My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Cinderford and are in fact using a Cinderford conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Yorkshire Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Cinderford solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Cinderford solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
We are about to exchange on the purchase of a property in Cinderford but as a consequence of damage from some water damage at the property I have was able negotiate compensation from the current proprietors of £3k in the form of a deduction in the price. I had intended this to be dealt with as part of amending the contract yet Leeds Building Society will not permit this. Should they have been involved?
Your property lawyer that is on a Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel is duty bound to advise Leeds Building Society of any changes to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your lawyer to disclose the reduction to Leeds Building Society then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Leeds Building Society and you would have to appoint a new lawyer for your conveyancing in Cinderford.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Cinderford for our home move. Our broker has since advised us that our bank Bank of Scotland won't deal with them. Surely this is unduly restrictive?
A decade ago most lenders had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all Cinderford conveyancing firms would have been on most lender panels. The financial services regulator in 2010 carried out a thematic review into mortgage fraud which come to the conclusion: mortgage lenders should know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, lenders have regularly sought more information from law firms regarding their operations and their employees and set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum volume of transactions. Many Cinderford conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have a 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Cinderford is one of the many areas where the conveyancers we recommend are on the panel for Bank of Scotland.
It has been five months since my purchase conveyancing in Cinderford concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. 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 decided to have a survey done on a house in Cinderford before retaining conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor advised that some banks will refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. If you contact us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Cinderford. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Cinderford to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
My solicitors in Cinderford have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. At the time of my purchase I took out a mortgage with the lender. Is it case that being on the lender conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a number of years?
It very much depends from lender to lender but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the lender Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting the bank directly.