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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the keystonePropertyFinance list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
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My lawyer has never been on on the Keystone Property Finance Solicitor Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my preferred solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Keystone Property Finance list of approved lawyers?
You have a number of options available to you here:
- Carry on with your preferred solicitors but Keystone Property Finance will need to instruct a lawyer on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
- Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel.
- Urge your lawyer to apply to join the Keystone Property Finance lender panel
Please help. My lawyer is assuring me that she is duty-bound to apply for a Local Authority search stemming from the fact that the firm are on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel. Is this really necessary?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with Keystone Property Finance your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Keystone Property Finance’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Keystone Property Finance. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the Keystone Property Finance approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the Keystone Property Finance solicitor panel.
The lawyers that I appointed last week on my purchase in Newcastle has without warning closed. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist
My existing mortgage is with Keystone Property Finance. My godfather has just retired and wants to pay off my mortgage. After Keystone Property Finance is paid, I want to transfer the property to my mother's name; How long will it roughly take? Do we need two separate solicitors on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the Keystone Property Finance mortgage is discharged.
Although you do need to retain the services of a lawyer they dont
need to be on the Keystone Property Finance panel.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and
to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to
consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about
the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die
within 7 years of this. As the property is your main residence you need
not pay CGT but you should speak with your accountants in any event.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer requires a lease extension . I have called into my local branch Keystone Property Finance on numerous occasions and told it wasn't a problem and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told not they would not lend in accordance with their CML Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply dont know who is right
Your lawyer has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for Keystone Property Finance. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Keystone Property Finance will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask Keystone Property Finance to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.
My offer on house has been accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage app going with Keystone Property Finance?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey/valuation, conveyancing search costs, etc). First you should check that your solicitor is on the Keystone Property Finance conveyancing panel. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot mortgage some buyers would pally for the mortgage with Keystone Property Finance and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.