I plan on acquiring a flat in Scarborough. My Solicitor has never been on on the mortgage company approved panel. Am I still permitted to use my Scarborough conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the bank panel?
You have numerous choices available to you here
- Complete the purchase with your existing Scarborough solicitor but your bank will undoubtedly appoint a conveyancing practitioner from their approved panel. This will result in additional fees and likely delay.
- Get a new conveyancer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to do everything possible to get accepted on the bank’s panel of solicitors
We note that you have a post code search directory listing solicitors on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I appoint them for our conveyancing in Scarborough?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Scarborough.
The Scarborough conveyancing firm that just started acting on my house acquisition in Scarborough have suddenly closed. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel and my previous Scarborough lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Co-operative, do Scarborough conveyancing practitioners have to pay a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any lender fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
Planning on purchasing a maisonette in Scarborough. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Scarborough conveyancer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel.
Having digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Scarborough solicitor - who is on the UBS conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
UBS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually UBS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Scarborough postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with UBS, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Scarborough.
As co-executor for the estate of my grandmother I am selling a property in Cardiff but reside in Scarborough. My lawyer (who is 260 kilometers awayneeds me to execute a statutory declaration prior to the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing practitioner in Scarborough to attest and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you should not need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Scarborough
I am soon to exchange buying a house in Scarborough but as a consequence of damage from the recent storms I have negotiated compensation from the seller of £3k taking the form of a reduction in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of the conveyancing process yet the bank will not agree to this. Why were they notified?
Your solicitor that is on the bank conveyancing panel is duty bound to advise the bank of any variations to the sale amount. If you prohibit your lawyer to disclose the price change to your mortgage company then they would have no choice but to disinstructing themselves from representing you and the bank.