We are buying a 2 bedroom apartment in Ickenham with a mortgage. We like our Ickenham conveyancer, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or retain our Ickenham conveyancing practitioner and pay for one of their panel firms to represent them. We regard this is inequitable; are we not able to require that the bank use our Ickenham conveyancer ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders 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 Ickenham conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Ickenham? Why is this being asked of me?
To satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations any Ickenham conveyancing firm will require proof of identity in all conveyancing transactions. This is normally satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account showing where you live.
In accordance with Money Laundering Regulations, conveyancing solicitors are duty bound to ascertain not just the identity of conveyancing clients but also the origin of monies that they receive in respect of any matter. Refusal to disclose this will lead to your solicitor cancelling their relationship with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.
Your conveyancers are duty bound to make a disclosure to the appropriate authorities should they believe that any monies received by them may contravene the Money Laundering Regulations.
I have paid off my mortgage with Lloyds. I assume I don't need a Ickenham solicitor on the Lloyds panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Lloyds mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Lloyds mortgage from the register. Lloyds, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Lloyds has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Lloyds has instructed the Land Registry to do so
My offer was accepted on a property in Ickenham on 21/6/2019, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to TSB and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the TSB conveyancing panel. Are TSB entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for TSB to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the TSB conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Ickenham solicitor having made sure that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Ickenham surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Ickenham concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I'm remortgaging my existing property to a buy to let loan with Nottingham Building Society and intend to use the remaining equity as a down payment on another house. The area we are talking about is Ickenham. Will your lawyers be able to act for the two lenders and link together the two deals?
Do use our comparison tool on this site to check that the solicitors are on the appropriate lender panels. Having checked that they are the lawyer will be able to tie up the two deals but you should talk with you solicitor and communicate your desired outcome and requirements.
Are the Ickenham conveyancing lawyers identified as being on the lender conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by the bank?
Ickenham law firm practices and firms conducting conveyancing in Ickenham themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the bank conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from the lender directly.
