My fiance and I are looking to purchase a flat in Selhurst and are in fact using a Selhurst conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Selhurst solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Selhurst solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Please help. My Selhurst lawyer is informing me me that she is duty bound toapply for Selhurst conveyancing searches asthe firm are on the Lloydsconveyancing panel. Is my solicitor right?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a lender your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook specifications . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Selhurst conveyancing searches.
I am helping my mother sell her house in Selhurst. Does the conveyancing solicitor commission an energy assessment or it is for me to see to?
After the demise of HIPs, energy performance certificates was retained a required part of moving property. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand before the property is marketed. This is not a task that lawyers normally organise. Where you are instructing a Selhurst conveyancing solicitor they may be willing to arrange energy assessments due to their contacts with reputable local accredited person
Is it the case that all Selhurst solicitors on the Lloyds conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Many lenders do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Selhurst property lawyer on the HSBC panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your HSBC mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Me and my brother have a semi-detached Edwardian house in Selhurst. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Santander. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Selhurst and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
I am buying my first flat in Selhurst with a loan from Chelsea Building Society. The developers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the extras as it will jeopardize my mortgage with Chelsea Building Society. 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'm refinancing my existing house to a buy to let loan with Lloyds TSB Bank and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a deposit on another property. The area we are interested in is Selhurst. Will your conveyancers be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and tie in the conveyances?
Do use our search tool on this page to check that the lawyers are approved by both mortgage companies. Assuming that they are the conveyancer should be able to tie up the two deals but you should talk with you solicitor and make apparent your expectations and requirements.