My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Hendon with Co-operative. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Co-operative conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Co-operative had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
It is a dozen years since I purchased my house in Hendon. Conveyancing lawyers have just been instructed on the sale but I can't find the title deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be with the lender or they could be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw the purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers procuring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Hendon involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is not registered it is more of a problem but is not insurmountable.
My husband and I wish to acquire a newly converted flat in Hendon with a residential mortgage from Bank of Scotland.We use our Hendon conveyancing lawyer but Bank of Scotland says she’s not on their approved list of member firms. we are left little option but to use a Bank of Scotland panel firm or retain our local solicitor and fork out for a Bank of Scotland panel lawyer to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The loan offered to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers must be on the Bank of Scotland 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. Another option that might be available is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Bank of Scotland
When it comes to lenders such as Skipton, do Hendon solicitors incur a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are unaware of any bank fees to register on their panel, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
We had chosen conveyancing lawyers with offices in Hendon on the Co-operative solicitor panel. They are now charging me a supplemental charge for dealing with the Co-operative mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Co-operative?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer may levy a fee for this. The charge is not set by Co-operative but by your Hendon lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Co-operative panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Nottingham as we want to conduct alterations to our house in Hendon. Do we need to choose a bricks and mortar Hendon solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Nottingham do not ordinarily require a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Nottingham conveyancing panel.
I am looking to sell my property. My past conveyancers has retired. I am in need of a recommendation of a conveyancing firm. Im based in Hendon if that affects matters.
Do use our search tool to help you choose a solicitor for your conveyancing in Hendon. We have connected thousands of home buyers and sellers with lender approved solicitors to ensure that the legalities of their house move goes with a minimum of fuss.
What do I do if I am not happy with the conveyancing practitioner who carried out my conveyancing in Hendon?
We live in an imperfect world, and unfortunately occasionally things do go wrong. However there is recourse where you were not happy with your conveyancing in Hendon. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a conveyancer to their regulator. If you remain dissatisfied you may consider getting in touch with the Legal Ombudsman.