My wife and I are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Portsmouth with a mortgage. We like our Portsmouth lawyer, however the lender advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel solicitors or retain our Portsmouth solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to require that the mortgage company use our Portsmouth conveyancer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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 Portsmouth conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My partner and I intend to remortgage our flat in Portsmouth with Co-operative. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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.
What happens if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Barclays Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Portsmouth?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Portsmouth. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Portsmouth
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Please provide evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified.
I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Portsmouth ahead of retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks will not grant a mortgage on such a property.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Portsmouth. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Portsmouth especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Portsmouth.
I purchased a property in Portsmouth last 19/8/2019 and to date it is still not recorded with HMLR. It is part of a development site and my property lawyer told me that it can take twelve months to register. I have called HMLR directly and they have informed me the original application was cancelled due to questions not being addressed in time. Do I need to be concerned?
Contact your lawyer - if you are not getting sensible responses, enquire as to their internal complaints process and escalate your concerns to a Partner. Registrations for Portsmouth conveyancing are not known to be especially complex.