My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Mossley and have appointed a Mossley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Mossley lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Mossley solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am considering applying for a Aldermore mortgage for purchase of a new build (under development) in Mossley with 60% LTV. Is it compulsory to choose a solicitor on the conveyancing panel for Aldermore ?
There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor, but Aldermore will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is greater potential for delays and confusion with two solicitors involved, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.
Various web forums that I have come across warn that are the primary reason for obstruction in Mossley house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the top 10 causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Mossley.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Mossley?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Mossley. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I need to find a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in Mossley. I happened to discover a web site which appears to be the ideal offering If it is possible to get all this stuff done via web that would be preferable. Should I be wary? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?