My wife and I are hoping to acquire a house in Marazion and have instructed a Marazion conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Marazion conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Marazion lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My wife and I are nearing an exchange on a flat in Marazion and my parents have sent the 10% deposit to my property lawyer. I am now informed that as the deposit has been received from someone other than me my conveyancing practitioner needs to make a notification to my mortgage company. Apparently, in also acting for the mortgage company he must advise them that the balance of the purchase price is not just from me. I disclosed to the lender about my parents' contribution when I applied for the mortgage, so is it really appropriate for him to raise this?
The solicitor is duty bound to clarify with the bank to ensure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. Your solicitor can only report this to your mortgage company if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
My Solicitor in Marazion is not on the HSBC Bank Solicitor Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the HSBC Bank panel?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Marazion lawyers but HSBC Bank will need to instruct a solicitor on their panel. This will result in additional overall conveyancing fees as well as result in delays.
- Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, remembering to check they are HSBC Bank approved.
- Persuade your HSBC Bank based solicitor to try to join the HSBC Bank panel
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a first time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Marazion. Do I receive the keys to the house on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Marazion?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Marazion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the vendor’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be called to pick up the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
Santander have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a property in Marazion has been agreed to, what happens next?
Your property agent will wish to know who your solicitors are (be sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s panel). Telephone Santander or your broker and finish off any appropriate documentation. Santander will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book a time for the valuation to take place. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about ten days to get a mortgage offer. Santander will send the offer to you and your conveyancers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Marazion.
After what seems like an age I have had an offer on a maisonette in Marazion agreed to, but there is a chain. The owners have put an offer on a property, but it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other flats booked. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Marazion. What should be my next step? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey, Marazion conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you should ensure that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Concerning the next phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. During a rising market many purchasers will apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they request their solicitor to press on with the conveyancing in Marazion.
A friend suggested that if I am purchasing in Marazion I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Marazion conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Marazion around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Marazion Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Marazion.
How do I identify a Marazion law firm on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am happy to travel upto 20miles to meet the lawyer.
Feel free to make use of the search on this page. Please choose the mortgage company and your location and you will see a number of Marazion conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have listed some Marazion conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can ring them to see whether they are on the Virgin Money approved list