It is 10 years ago since I acquired my property in Sherborne. Conveyancing lawyers have now been retained on the sale but I can't track down the title deeds. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be with the mortgage company or they could be archived with the lawyers who acted in your purchase. Secondly in all probability the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Sherborne involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
Is there a search tool that I can utilise to find out if the solicitor carrying out my conveyancing in Sherborne is on the bank’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Virgin Money thus spending £187.00 plus VAT in additional conveyancing bill.
Feel free to make the most of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this page. Please choose the lender and type ‘Sherborne’ or your location and you will see a number of lawyer located in Sherborne or near you.
There are a variety of conveyancing solicitors in Sherborne but how do I know who's good?
Do not opt for the lowest Sherborne conveyancing fees. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Sherborne. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. A few days later, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My offer on a semi in Sherborne has been agreed to, but there is a chain. The owners have offered on a flat, however it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other apartments booked. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Sherborne. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with HSBC started?
It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Sherborne conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you should check that your property lawyer is on the HSBC approved list. As to the next steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market the majority of home buyers would apply for a home loan with HSBC and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their property lawyer to press on with the conveyancing in Sherborne.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in Sherborne. Now, I need my documents but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Sherborne of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, no chain conveyancing. Sherborne is where the house is located. Is there any advice you can give?
Flying freeholds in Sherborne are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Sherborne you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Sherborne may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.