The Okehampton conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Okehampton have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my family Okehampton lawyer was not. I paid them funds on account. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.
What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in Okehampton
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in Okehampton and Solicitor firms in Okehampton who provide Conveyancing services We would stress that the two are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal aspects of transferring property. The two can handle other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Okehampton. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender HSBC be concerned?
As you are obtaining a mortgage with HSBC your lawyer must check the formal requirements contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for HSBC. The CML Handbook sets out minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancers are required to report to HSBC where a lease does not meet these requirements. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Okehampton.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Okehampton property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Co-operative will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Co-operative will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Okehampton surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I have been told that property searches are a common cause of delay in Okehampton house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the common causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Okehampton.
How does conveyancing in Okehampton differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Okehampton come to us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because new home sellers in Okehampton tend to buy the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Okehampton or who has acted in the same development.
The solicitors undertaking our conveyancing in Okehampton has sent papers to review that reveal that the land is unregistered with epitome documents. Is it not the case that all properties in Okehampton should be registered?
It is a rare occurrence indeed to find property in Okehampton to be unregistered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Plenty of Okehampton conveyancing lawyers will be capable of dealing with this type of conveyancing but where uncertainty prevails the standard advice these days seems to be for the current owners to register it first and subsequently deal with the transfer to the buyer - this can though naturally cause a prolonged conveyancing.