I am in the process of selling my ground floor flat in Halstead and the estate agent has just called to advise that the buyers are changing their law firm. The reason given is that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading lender only engage with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Halstead ?
UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as HSBC, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for many years.
Banks attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some 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.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Halstead? Is this really warranted?
It is indeed that case that the requirement set out by your lawyer has nothing to do with conveyancing in Halstead. Nowadays you can not complete any conveyancing process without first handing over evidence of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence plus a council tax bill. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as evidence of identification it needs to be both the paper part as well as the photo card part, one is not acceptable without the other.
Proof of your source of funds is required under Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when you are asked to produce this as your conveyancer must retain this information on record. Your Halstead conveyancing practitioner will require evidence of proof of funds before they are able to accept any funds from you into their client account and they should also ask additional queries concerning the origin of monies.
The Halstead conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Halstead have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a firm on the Santander conveyancing panel and my family Halstead lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to assist.
I am purchasing my first flat in Halstead with a mortgage from Skipton Building Society. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my solicitor about this deal as it could jeopardize my loan 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.
I am looking for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Halstead I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Halstead for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
Are the Halstead conveyancing lawyers identified as being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by the mortgage company?
Halstead firms and firms carrying out conveyancing in Halstead themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the bank conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from the lender directly.