My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a property in Southwark and have appointed a Southwark conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Coventry Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Southwark lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Southwark lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
The owners of the home we are hoping to buy hired a conveyancing solicitor in Southwark who has insisted on a lock out contract with a non-refundable deposit 6,000. Are such agreements sensible?
Lock out contracts are agreements binding a property seller and prospective acquirer granting the buyer exclusive rights to the sale of the property for a certain period of time. Essentially, a lock out agreement is a contract specifying that you will have a contract at a later time being the contract for the actual sale. It is generally utilised for buyer assurance though in some cases, the vendor may enjoy an upside from such agreements as well. There are various pros and cons to using them but you should to check with your lawyer but beware that it may result in costing you more in conveyancing charges. For this these agreements are rare in relation to conveyancing in Southwark.
When can the exchange of contracts occur in sale conveyancing in Southwark and do I need to be at the conveyancers branch?
If you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Southwark you are welcome to come in to sign contracts. That being said, the lender approved solicitors we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The signing of the contract is not the critical part. Signing on the dotted line simply enables the conveyancer to address the formalities when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Southwark)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Southwark in advance of appointing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor has said that some lenders will not give a loan on this type of home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you contact us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Southwark. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Southwark to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Should I be concerned by estate agents that I am dealing with are recommending a nationwide conveyancing firm rather than a local Southwark conveyancing practice?
As is the case with many professional services, often recommendations from relatives can be very helpful. Nevertheless there are lots of players in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and banks might all recommend conveyancers to instruct. Sometimes the solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but occasionally there exists a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You have the discretion to appoint your preferred conveyancer. You need to be aware that many lenders specify a panel list of lawyers you have to use for the lender aspect of your home move.