It is is a decade since I purchased my home in St Albans. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been appointed on the sale but I am unable to track down the deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be kept by your mortgage company or they could be in the possession of the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in St Albans involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
My lender has recommended a law firm on their panel based in St Albans but I would rather choose a conveyancing lawyer in St Albans local to me. Can you assist?
Not all St Albans conveyancing firms are on all lender’s conveyancing panel. Do make use of the above find an approved solicitor tool to find a St Albans conveyancing conveyancer on the on the mortgage company panel.
What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in St Albans
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in St Albans and Solicitor practices in St Albans to choose from We would stress that the two are regulated professionals specialising in the legal work in the home buying process. The two can deal with associated property related work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
This question may be naive but I am new to the house moving as FTB of a ground floor flat in St Albans. Do I receive the keys to the house on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in St Albans?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Leeds Building Society. I assume I don't need a St Albans solicitor on the Leeds Building Society panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Leeds Building Society mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Leeds Building Society mortgage from the register. Leeds Building Society, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Leeds Building Society has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Leeds Building Society has instructed the Land Registry to do so
A friend advised me that if I am buying in St Albans I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard St Albans conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about St Albans around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the St Albans Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, St Albans Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding St Albans.
Our lender agreed in principle to grant us a mortgage. We instructed a high street conveyancer in St Albans last week. A couple of hours ago, our financial adviser called to say that the mortgage company said that we cannot use our solicitor as they aren't on their panel. As FTB's, we did not have a clue that the mortgage company had a say Is this allowed?
You are permitted to select any property lawyer you want to instruct for your conveyancing in St Albans but if your lender aren't happy with them you must fork out additional cost so the mortgage company can retain their own conveyancer too. It may be conceivable that your preferred conveyancing firm to get added to the mortgage company panel. You can use internet search facilities including lenderpanel.com to find a conveyancing solcitor in St Albans on the lender panel. You can go into your high street lender branch in St Albans. They will know some good conveyancing solicitors in St Albans on the bank panel.