I am progressing with the sale of my apartment in Hellesdon and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the purchasers are changing their property lawyer. The reason given is that the lender will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named mortgage company only work with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Hellesdon ?
Banks have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for many years.
Mortgage companies blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed 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 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. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
Should lawyers request an advanced payment for my conveyancing in Hellesdon?
If you are buying a property in Hellesdon your lawyer will request that you place them with monies to cover the search fees. Ordinarily this is asked for to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is as part of the sale price then this should be needed shortly in advance of contracts are exchanged. Any further balance that is needed will be payable shortly before completion.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Hellesdon for our house move. Our broker has since advised us that our bank Virgin Money won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
A mortgage company will direct that a panel conveyancer act for it. You would be liable to meet the cost of this. Try using our directory service to choose a solicitor to conduct conveyancing in Hellesdon on the Virgin Money approved list of solicitors.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Hellesdon is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Hellesdon are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Hellesdon you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Hellesdon may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
I have been pointed in your direction by a few estate agents in Hellesdon to get a quote from a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to promote your lawyers rather than a competitor’s?
We don’t offer any financial incentive for sending work to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
We have just become aware that one of the partners of the firm acting on the purchase conveyancing in Hellesdon is is the brother of the owners that we are purchasing from. Is this permitted?
On the basis that there is no conflict of interest this should be fine. If you are obtaining mortgage finance then the bank may have a say as many lenders have specific instructions on this. For example for Nationwide Building Society as of 18/10/2024, the requirements read as follows :