My wife and I are acquiring a newly built apartment in Downend and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the mortgage company to reveal incentives from the developer. I am under pressure to exchange contracts and my preference is not to prolong deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on a bank 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.
We wish to acquire a 2 bedroom apartment in Downend with a homeloan from Halifax.We use our Downend conveyancing lawyer but Halifax informed us his firm is not listed on their approved list of member firms. It seems we are left with no choice but to instruct a Halifax panel lawyer or retain our preferred solicitor and pay for a Halifax panel lawyer to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage issued to you contains terms and conditions, a common one being that solicitors will be on the Halifax approved list. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Halifax
Should commercial conveyancing searches reveal proposed roadworks that could affect a commercial estate in Downend?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Downend will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers invest in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Downend. The search result sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Downend.
For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Downend it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately could cause delays to Downend commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not ordered for domestic conveyancing in Downend.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Downend in advance of instructing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend not give a loan on a flying freehold house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different requirements from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Downend. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Downend especially if they are familiar with such properties in Downend.
As co-executor for the will of my grandfather I am disposing of a residence in Swansea but live in Downend. My solicitor (approximately 250 miles from merequires that I sign a statutory declaration ahead of the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in Downend to attest this legal document for me?
Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Downend based
Are Downend conveyancing solicitors duty bound by the Law Society to supply clear conveyancing costs?
Contained within the Solicitors Code of Conduct are set rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their charges to clients.The Law Society have practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not intended as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, however, constitute the Law Society’s perspective of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Downend or across England and Wales.