I am five weeks into the sale of my ground floor flat in Arlesey and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. The reason given is that the mortgage company will only deal with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Arlesey ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for over 25 years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. 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 are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
We are buying a flat and need a conveyancing solicitor in Arlesey who is on the Santander approved panel. Can you recommend a local solicitor?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Santander . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Arlesey.
We are planning to move house in December. Should my conveyancing solicitor communicate with the removal company on the day of completion. As an aside, can you recommend a removal company in Arlesey. Conveyancing firm was organised before I stumbled across your site.
On the day of completion you can pick up the house keys from the property agent however this can only happen once the vendors conveyancers inform the agent that they have the completion monies and the keys can be given over. After that you will need to advise the removal men that you are ready to move in. We do not recommend a particular removal organisation but can assist you in locating a conveyancing in Arlesey or a lawyer with expertise in conveyancing in Arlesey.
I have instructed a Arlesey conveyancing practitioner having made sure that they are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Bank of Ireland will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Bank of Ireland will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Arlesey postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Bank of Ireland, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Arlesey.
After what seems like an age I have had an offer on an apartment in Arlesey agreed to, the sellers do nevertheless have a dependent purchase. The sellers have offered on somewhere, but it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Arlesey. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with TSB going?
It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Arlesey conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to check that your solicitor is on the TSB approved list. Regarding the subsequent stages this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your transaction, attraction to the property and on the state of the market. During a hot market some purchasers would apply for the mortgage with TSB and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their lawyer to press on with searches.
2 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Arlesey completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I decided to have a survey done on a house in Arlesey before instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some lenders may not give a loan on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Arlesey. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
I have been pointed in your direction by numerous estate agents in Arlesey to choose a conveyancer on your site. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your services over a competitor’s?
We refuse to give any financial incentive for directing people our way. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.