Do conveyancers ask for money on account for conveyancing in Cardiff Bay?
If you are buying a property in Cardiff Bay your solicitor will ask you place them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. Generally this is needed to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. If any down payment is as part of the total price then this should be asked for shortly in advance of exchange of contracts. Any further balance that is due will be payable a couple of days prior to the completion date.
A friend informed me that in buying a property in Cardiff Bay there may be various restrictions prohibiting external changes to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Cardiff Bay which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Cardiff Bay should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Cardiff Bay off the council. I have a mortgage offer with Virgin Money. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Virgin Money, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel.
I have finally had an offer on an apartment in Cardiff Bay agreed to, the owners do nevertheless have a tied purchase. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a local conveyancing solicitor in Cardiff Bay. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Bank of Ireland started?
It is normal to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then survey, Cardiff Bay conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to ensure that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland approved list. Regarding the next phase this very much dictated by the circumstances of your case, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. During a rising market some home buyers would apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their solicitor to press on with searches.
A colleague recommended that if I am buying in Cardiff Bay I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Cardiff Bay conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Cardiff Bay around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Cardiff Bay.
I am purchasing a new build house in Cardiff Bay benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not to tell my conveyancer about this deal as it may affect my loan with Santander. 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.
As co-executor for the estate of my uncle I am selling a house in Cardiff but live in Cardiff Bay. My conveyancer (approximately 260 miles awayrequires that I execute a statutory declaration prior to the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing solicitor in Cardiff Bay to attest this legal document for me?
Technically speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are Cardiff Bay based
My nephew is about to join the property ladder, he had his mortgage in principle. One the offer was accepted on apartment we contacted the mortgage institution to go forward with his. I was disappointed to learn that banks do not accept all property lawyer, they have to be on a list, is this legal?
Lenders tend to imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Cardiff Bay property lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.