My fiance and I are looking to purchase a home in Runcorn and have instructed a Runcorn conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nottingham Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Runcorn solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Runcorn solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Due to move into my new home in Runcorn next Monday. I have now been asked to send a copy of my building insurance schedule by my solicitor as he says that he has to check this in his capacity as lawyer for the mortgage company. What does the insurance need to cover?
All property lawyers on acting for mortgage companies would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s Part 2 conditions. These obligations are not unique to conveyancing in Runcorn.
Do I select a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Runcorn?
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in Runcorn and Solicitor partnerships in Runcorn who can help with your conveyancing It is important to make clear that the two are regulated professionals specialising in the legal work in transferring property. They may both also deal with other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, enfranchisement and transfer of equity conveyancing.
We are getting a further advance on our mortgage from Coventry BS as we wish to conduct renovations to our home in Runcorn. Do we need to appoint a nearby Runcorn solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Coventry BS would not normally require firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS panel.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Runcorn on 6/10/2023, valuation was booked five days later, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Nationwide and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Nationwide to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I'm purchasing a new build house in Runcorn benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not disclose to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it may adversely affect my loan with Lloyds TSB Bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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 decided to have a survey done on a house in Runcorn prior to appointing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend refuse to grant a loan on a flying freehold property.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can check via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Runcorn. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Runcorn especially if they are familiar with such properties in Runcorn.
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Runcorn. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Runcorn - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
Runcorn Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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Many Runcorn leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block invoiced by the freeholder. Should you acquire the property you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly accross the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check it because occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds. Does this lease have more than 82 years left?