My wife and I are intending to purchase a 2 bedroom apartment in Leominster with a mortgage. We like our Leominster solicitor, but the bank advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel firms or keep our Leominster lawyer and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you 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. A further alternative is for your Leominster conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Leominster I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Leominster conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Leominster around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Leominster Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Leominster.
four months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Leominster completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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 premises 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 am purchasing my first flat in Leominster with a mortgage from Nottingham Building Society. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not to tell my conveyancer about the extras as it may affect 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.
Taking into account that I will soon part with over three hundred thousand on a property in Leominster I would like to talk to a lawyer about mytransaction in advance of instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?
We could not agree more - we would be happy to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the solicitor due to be doing your conveyancing in Leominster.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique person, not a file number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in Leominster should be the amount on the final invoice that you are charged.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing solicitor in Leominster for my home move. Can I see a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
You may read documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from investigations from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For information about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors history, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For non-uk callers, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA could monitor telephone calls for training reasons.