I am five weeks into the sale of my home in Colchester and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are switching solicitor. The excuse is that the bank will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named lender only deal with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Colchester ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 25 years.
Lenders blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms 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. Your buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
I have given 2 months notice to my existing landlord and must be out of my rented flat in Colchester by 24/1/2022. Conveyancing for my house purchase has just started. Is it possible to complete in 4 weeks as don't want to have to find temporary accommodation?
Generally one should not give notice for your lease until your lawyer suggests that you should. Assuming that you have not previously done so, contact to your solicitor and ask them to they apply pressure on the sellers lawyers, try to get a realistic time scale from them that all parties will aim towards
Is there a list of Nottingham panel solicitors in Colchester on the Council of Mortgage Lender’s Website?
Unfortunately not yet. There is no such facility on the CML or Building Society Association sites. A small selection of lending institutions make their panel listings visible on the web. If you are looking for a Colchester lawyer on the Nottingham please make the most of our tool.
I currently have a mortgage with Nationwide for my property in Colchester. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Nationwide?
You must advise Nationwide prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Nationwide will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nationwide directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Colchester. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an on account payment of £175. Not long after, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Kent Reliance panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I used Stirling Law a few years past for my conveyancing in Colchester. Now, I need the files but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Colchester of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Colchester prior to appointing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor advised that some lenders tend refuse to issue a loan on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Colchester. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Colchester to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Colchester ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Colchester conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Some leases for properties in Colchester do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.
Colchester Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
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Plenty Colchester leasehold properties will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the block set on behalf of the landlord. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to pay this amount, normally periodically throughout the year. This can differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire it because sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. Who is in charge of the building? How many years are left on the lease?