My property lawyer in Oxted is not on the Birmingham Midshires Conveyancing Panel. Is it possible for me to use my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the Birmingham Midshires panel?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Carry on with your preferred Oxted solicitors but Birmingham Midshires will need to instruct a conveyancer on their list of acceptable firms. This will result in additional total conveyancing fees and result in frustration.
- Find a new practitioner to to deal with the conveyancing, not forgetting to check they are Persuade your conveyancer to use their best endeavours to join the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel
We have agreed to purchase a house in Oxted. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. RBS have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is RBS your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing requirements contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for RBS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook sets out minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to RBS where a lease does not meet these provisions. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not limited to Oxted.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Oxted. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Oxted. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Clydesdale panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have justdiscovered that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Oxted for a purchase of a leasehold flat 12 months ago. How can I be sure that the property is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest way to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Oxted conveyancing specialists.
I am buying a new build house in Oxted with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. 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.
I opted to have a survey done on a house in Oxted prior to instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor has said that some lenders may refuse to issue a loan on this type of house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you contact us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Oxted. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Oxted to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Should I be wary by third parties that I am dealing with are recommending an internet conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Oxted conveyancing firm?
As is the case with many service providers, often recommendations from relatives can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are numerous players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders might all recommend conveyancers to use. On occasion the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but sometimes there might be a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You have the right to choose your preferred lawyer. You need to be aware that some banks have an approved list of solicitors you must use for the mortgage aspect of your home move.