My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in Biggin Hill and have appointed a Biggin Hill conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Biggin Hill conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Biggin Hill lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Some advice if I may. My Biggin Hill conveyancer is informing me me that he is legally obliged toorder Biggin Hill conveyancing searches resulting from the fact thatthe firm are on the Lloydssolicitor panel. Is this really necessary?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with a bank your conveyancer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook specifications . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Biggin Hill conveyancing searches.
Do banks and building societies provide you with an approved list of Biggin Hill conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel?
Biggin Hill conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Bank of Ireland directly.
Have purchased a a semi-detached house in Biggin Hill , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to record my proprietorship? My Biggin Hill conveyancing solicitor works at snail pace, so I want to check the registration is addressed.
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Biggin Hill registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can vary depending on who lodges the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry need to notify any third persons or bodies. At present in the region of three quarters of submission are fully addressed in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be extensive hold-ups. Registration is effected after the buyer is living at the premises thus an expedited registration is not usually an essential issue but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your lawyers should communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
I am purchasing a new build house in Biggin Hill with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative told me not reveal to my conveyancer about the extras as it will jeopardize my mortgage with Leeds Building Society. Should I keep quiet?.
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 have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one near me in Biggin Hill I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Biggin Hill in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you require a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.