We have rather pushy vendors who has recommended a lock out agreement with a payment two thousand pounds. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?
Lock out contracts are agreements binding a home seller and prospective acquirer giving the buyer exclusive rights to purchase the property for a certain period of time. Essentially, a lock out is a document stating that you will be issued with a contract at a later time being the main conveyancing contract. It tends to be used for buyer assurance though in some cases, the owner may enjoy an upside from such agreements as well. There are various positives and negatives to having an agreement but you need to check with your conveyancer but note that it may result in costing you more in conveyancing charges. For this these contracts are not popular when it comes to conveyancing in St Asaph.
We are selling our house in St Asaph. Will the conveyancing practitioner need to be required to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Lloyds 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 specifications fairly frequently at the moment.
Can you point me to a directory of Aldermore panel solicitors in St Asaph on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?
No. There is no such directory service on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. A small selection of lenders make their panel listings available on the web. If you are seeking to appoint a St Asaph conveyancer on the Aldermore please use our tool.
We had selected solicitors based in St Asaph on the Principality solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional charge for handling the Principality mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Principality?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your property lawyer can charge a fee for this. This fee is not dictated by Principality but by your St Asaph property lawyer. Some firms on the Principality panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some practices incorporate it on their overall fee.
Having digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local St Asaph solicitor - who is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Nottingham will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nottingham 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own St Asaph surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years ago for my conveyancing in St Asaph. I now require my file however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in St Asaph of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I'm purchasing my first flat in St Asaph benefiting from help to buy. The builders refused to reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the deal as it will put at risk my loan with the lender. 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.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in St Asaph in advance of instructing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to grant a mortgage on such a premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in St Asaph. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in St Asaph to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.