Is the fact that my solicitor in Arlesey is not on my mortgage company's conveyancing panel that there is a problem with the quality of his conveyancing?
It would be unwise to jump to that conclusion. There are plenty of plausible explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator indicated that over three quarters of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The most common reasons for removal are: (1) lack of transactions (2) the solicitor is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. Where you are concerned you should contact the Arlesey conveyancing practice and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for your lender.
Our god-son is about to exchange on a house that has just been built in Arlesey with a home loan from Kent Reliance. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
This question may be naive but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a garden flat in Arlesey. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my lawyer? If so, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Arlesey?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the vendor’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be able to pick up the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.
I am the sole recipient of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Arlesey. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in July. I want to move. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership could be considered the same way as if I'd bought the house in July. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be affected by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the mortgage company as this provision primarily exists to identify subsales or the quick reselling of properties.
I have paid off my mortgage with Lloyds. I assume I don't need a Arlesey conveyancing practitioner on the Lloyds panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Lloyds mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Lloyds mortgage from the register. Lloyds, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Lloyds has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Lloyds has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Arlesey?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Arlesey. 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'm buying my first flat in Arlesey with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not inform my solicitor about this extras as it may impact my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, no chain conveyancing. Arlesey is where the house is located. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Arlesey are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Arlesey you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Arlesey may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.