We are buying a 3 bedroom flat in Romney with a mortgage. We like our Romney conveyancer, but the bank advise she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to appoint one of the mortgage company panel solicitors or keep our Romney property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This feels 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 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. Another option that might be available is for your Romney conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
is it true that all Romney solicitors on the UBS conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the UBS conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. Some banks do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
The mortgage over my property is with Nottingham for my property in Romney. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Nottingham?
Your original mortgage agreement with Nottingham will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nottingham’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nottingham directly. You need not do this via a Nottingham conveyancing panel lawyer.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Romney. My financial adviser suggested a lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Soon after, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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.
What does a local search inform me regarding the property I am purchasing in Romney?
Romney conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for instance Searchflow The local search is essential in every Romney conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your new home. The search will supply data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 subject headings.
I am buying a new build house in Romney with a mortgage from Barnsley Building Society. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my lawyer about this deal as it will 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.
As co-executor for the estate of my grandmother I am selling a property in Swansea but live in Romney. My solicitor (approximately 300 kilometers awayhas requested that I execute a stat dec prior to the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Romney to attest and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you should not need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Romney based
I bought a property in Romney last 23/9/2024 and to date it is still not registered with HMLR. It is part of a development site and my property lawyer told me that it may take 12 months to register. I have called HM Land Registry directly and they say that the initial application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Should I be concerned?
It is your conveyancer that you must turn to here in order to satisfy any questions which have arisen as part of the registration process for your Romney property. Normal Romney conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's property lawyer that they will help resolve any requirements raised by HMLR so it may be a case of seeking to enforce that undertaking if necessary.