I am in the process of selling my apartment in Eastleigh and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are swapping property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading mortgage company only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Eastleigh ?
Banks have always had panels of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for decades.
Banks attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a fairly new development (five years built) in Eastleigh. 95% of the properties are already disposed of. Is it strictly necessary to order conveyancing searches for my conveyancing in Eastleigh?
A big part of the Eastleigh conveyancing process is the conveyancing searches. There are hundreds companies conducting Eastleigh conveyancing searches, as well straight from the local authority. These are known collectively as personal search providers and they produce, not surprisingly, personal searches. Nevertheless, all Local Authority Search conveyancing products have one thing in common - they must secure their information from the local authority.
It is a dozen years since I purchased my house in Eastleigh. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been appointed on the sale but I can't track down the deeds. Will this cause complications?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be retained by your lender or they could be archived with the solicitor who oversaw the purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Eastleigh involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is not registered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.
We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our home in Eastleigh and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers used a nationwide conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Eastleigh. We have lived in Eastleigh for 4 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. What do they say? You need to 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 life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I used Action Conveyancing several years past for my conveyancing in Eastleigh. Now, I need my files but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do contact 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 Eastleigh 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.
I am buying a new build house in Eastleigh with a loan from Nationwide Building Society. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about this extras as it may affect my mortgage with the bank. 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.