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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the St James Place list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
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How does my firm apply to be on the St James Place Bank Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the St James Place Bank Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the St James Place Bank Conveyancing Panel
Q and A’s regarding the St James Place Conveyancing Panel
My fiance and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. St James Place have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for 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 solicitors should contact St James Place and see if they can apply for membership of the St James Place conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable St James Place will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the St James Place conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am due to move into my new home next Monday. My conveyancing lawyer has asked me to provide him with a copy of the building insurance for the house as he says that he has to check this in has capacity as lawyer for St James Place. What risks do St James Place expect the insurance to cover?
All property lawyers on the St James Place conveyancing panel would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in St James Place’s Part 2 requirements of the CML Handbook (last updated on St James Place). Being on the St James Place conveyancing panel your lawyer is expect to follow these instructions.
Do all the firms listed on your search have online case tracking as I was under the impression that this was a precondition of being on the St James Place solicitor panel?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders or BSA do not require online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is suspended from the St James Place Solicitor panel in advance of the completion date?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from St James Place as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our home. Do we need to appoint a solicitor on the St James Place conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
St James Place do not ordinarily appoint a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they did require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the St James Place panel
I have today made my last payment due on mortgage with St James Place. I assume I don't need a solicitor on the St James Place panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your St James Place 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 St James Place mortgage from the register. St James Place,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 the St James Place has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
the St James Place has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The Land Registry will send you a letter confirming that your St James Place mortgage has been paid off.
My ex -wife’s name is on the St James Place mortgage of my property but not on the land registry. The apartment was transferred to me on our divorce many years ago by way of a sealed court order. Does my ex still have a say on the sale even though the land registry showing the property in my name alone? Will I be required to take her name of the St James Place mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the St James Place mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of St James Place in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.
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