Unfortunately I am unable to travel far from Lowestoft. I would like to know the reason why all Lowestoft property lawyers are not on all bank panels?
A decade ago most lenders displayed an attitude to risk which differs from the current day. The financial regulator in 2010 instigated a thematic review into mortgage fraud which concluded: know the conveyancers on your panel. Accordingly, lenders have subsequently looked to extract more data from law firms concerning their processes and the staff employed by them and set certain criteria such as completing a minimum volume of transactions. Hundreds of firms have found themselves excluded from lender panels even though they had an exemplary track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Such firms found it impossible meet the criteria of volume of transactions the mortgage companies required.
Is there a search tool that I can use to investigate if the solicitor handling my conveyancing in Lowestoft is on the lender’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Bank of Scotland thus spending £187.00 plus VAT in additional legal costs.
You should take advantage of the search tool on this site. Pick the lender and type ‘Lowestoft’ or your preferred area and you will discover a number of lawyer offices in Lowestoft or near you.
My partner and I have organised a further advance on our home loan from Co-operative as we want to conduct alterations to our property in Lowestoft. Do we need to choose a high street Lowestoft solicitor on the Co-operative conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Co-operative don't usually require firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Co-operative panel.
My wife and I are spending time looking at houses in Lowestoft and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a mortgage with UBS.
It would be sensible to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with UBS, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the UBS conveyancing panel.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Lowestoft lawyer on the HSBC panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your HSBC 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 HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, 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 HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
We are planning on selling our property in Lowestoft and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using an online conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Lowestoft. Having lived in Lowestoft for three years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. What do they say? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
My wife and I have a terraced Victorian house in Lowestoft. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Bank of Ireland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Lowestoft and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
We own a leasehold flat in Lowestoft. Conveyancing was completed in five years ago. I have read on a number of consumer forums that I should not allow the the remaining lease term to fall too low. Why is that a problem?
Lowestoft leasehold properties are for a fixed term - usually just under one hundred years when they are first granted. However a significant flats in Lowestoft were built or converted 25 or more years ago and so these leases now have under 80 years remaining. That may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally require leases to have a minimum of 75 years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are nearing eighty years. To enhance your property value you should be considering whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Furthermore strong financial reasons to doing so before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease falls below eighty years the amount you have to pay to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.