My partner and I are purchasing a new build flat in Burwell and my lawyer is telling me that she is duty bound to the lender to reveal incentives from the builder. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and I don't want to prolong matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My wife and I are buying a property in Burwell. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we will need to deposit money into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our money?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Are all Burwell Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing list of approved practices?
A selection of banks and building societies now make use of CQS as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Burwell property lawyer on the HSBC panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your HSBC 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 HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, 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 HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
My wife and I are selling our house in Burwell and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Burwell conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Burwell. We have lived in Burwell for three years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same ailment)
It has been 2 months following my purchase conveyancing in Burwell took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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 residence 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'm buying a new build house in Burwell benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not inform my lawyer about the extras as it would adversely affect my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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.
I opted to have a survey carried out on a property in Burwell ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor advised that some lenders may refuse to grant a loan on a flying freehold premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Burwell. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Burwell to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.