My home in Rainford is up for sale and I have a buyer. Will the solicitor have to be required to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Aldermore conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently in recent years.
We expect to receive a DIP from Virgin Money this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Virgin Money recommend any Rainford solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Rainford solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Virgin Money through the process.
My wife and I are spending time looking at apartments in Rainford and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a conveyancing practitioner appointed at this point? I am planning to take a mortgage with HSBC.
You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. As you are seeking a mortgage with HSBC, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the HSBC conveyancing panel.
Bank of Ireland have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a apartment in Rainford has been accepted, what are the next steps?
The property agent will wish to be advised as to your conveyancer's details (be sure the solicitors are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Bank of Ireland or the broker and complete any appropriate forms. Bank of Ireland will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or seller to schedule a time for the valuation to happen. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes approximately ten days for the mortgage offer to be issued. Bank of Ireland will issue the offer to you and your lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Rainford.
Should our conveyancer be raising questions about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Rainford.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers dealing with homes in Rainford. Plenty of people will buy a house in Rainford, fully expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous searches that can be carried out by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which can figure out the risks in Rainford. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s lawyer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a standard inquiry of the owner to determine whether the premises has ever been flooded. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past and is not disclosed by the vendor, then a purchaser could issue a legal claim for losses as a result of such an misleading response. The buyer’s lawyers should also carry out an environmental report. This will higlight whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be made.
I am buying a new build house in Rainford with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep advised me not reveal to my solicitor about the side-deal as it will affect my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one close by in Rainford I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Rainford in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.
We're FTB’s - agreed a price, but the selling agent told us that the owners will only issue a contract if we instruct their recommended lawyers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street conveyancer used to conveyancing in Rainford
We suspect that the seller is not behind this ultimatum. If they want ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a motivated buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Bypass the agents and go straight to the sellers and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you will continue to use your preferred Rainford conveyancing firm - not the ones that will earn the estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing targets set by head office.