My fiance and I are looking to acquire a property in Cambridgeshire and have appointed a Cambridgeshire conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Cambridgeshire conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual 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 solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Cambridgeshire lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
It is 10 years ago since I purchased my house in Cambridgeshire. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate the deeds. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be with your lender or they may still be with the lawyers who acted in your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Cambridgeshire relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more problematic but is not insurmountable.
My house in Cambridgeshire is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Will my have to be on the conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently in recent years.
I purchased a semi-detached Victorian house in Cambridgeshire. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. Is it worth asking to clarify?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Cambridgeshire and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Is it best to go with a Cambridgeshire conveyancing practitioner based in the vicinity that I am purchasing? An old friend can carry out the legal formalities however his firm is located 400miles away.
The primary upside of using a local Cambridgeshire conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to execute documents, deliver your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have used your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unknown Cambridgeshire conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.