I am one month into the sale of my ground floor flat in Abbots Langley and the EA has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are appointing a new conveyancer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a major mortgage company only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Abbots Langley ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 25 years.
Mortgage companies attribute this action to a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
I require conveyancing for a flat in a relatively new development (five years built) in Abbots Langley. The vast majority the properties are already disposed of. Do I need carry out the conveyancing searches as part of conveyancing in Abbots Langley?
Where you are obtaining a loan, your lender will need some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Abbots Langley conveyancing searches are optional. No doubt your conveyancer, will ’encourage’, perhaps in the strongest possible terms, that you should not go ahead without searches, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you choose to instruct your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or ask you to appoint a different lawyer for your conveyancing in Abbots Langley.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Abbots Langley? Why is this being asked of me?
It is indeed that case that the requirement set out by your lawyer has nothing to do with conveyancing in Abbots Langley. However these days you will not be able to proceed with any conveyancing process without first handing over evidence of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence plus a bank statement. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as proof of identification it must be both the paper element as well as the photo card part, one is not satisfactory without the other.
Proof of your source of funds is necessary under Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancing solicitor will need to retain this information on file. Your Abbots Langley conveyancing lawyer will need to see evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any monies from you into their client account and they will also ask further queries regarding the source of funds.
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of delay in Abbots Langley house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the most frequent causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Abbots Langley.
I am purchasing my first flat in Abbots Langley with a loan from Bank of Scotland. The developers would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about the deal as it will affect my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
My conveyancing in Abbots Langley is set to complete on Friday, yet the sellers I am buying from wants to vacate on the Saturday afternoon. Should I agree to such a idea?
You can't complete on a Saturday due to the bank systems aren't operational.