Having sold my house in St James last March yet the purchaser is texting every few hours to moan that his conveyancer is waiting to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
Post completion of your disposal your conveyancer should send the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your conveyancer should also confirm that the home loan has been redeemed to the purchasers lawyers. There are no post completion requirements unique to conveyancing in St James.
Are all St James Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Santander conveyancing list of approved firms?
It is true that some banks and building societies now make use of the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their panels.
I currently have a mortgage with Clydesdale for my property in St James. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Clydesdale must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale directly. You need not do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel firm.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in St James. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Soon after, the solicitor contacted me to say that they were not on the Skipton 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 Skipton 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.
A relative recommended that if I am buying in St James I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your St James conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about St James around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning St James.
Me and my brother own a renovated Edwardian house in St James. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Virgin Money. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same property. Is it worth asking Virgin Money to clarify?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 St James and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
I am buying my first flat in St James with a loan from Aldermore. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my lawyer about the extras as it could put at risk my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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 am thinking of appointing a conveyancing practitioner in St James for my home move. Is there any facility to check a solicitor's record with the legal regulator?
You can review presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from investigations commenced on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. To find details Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors record, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. International callers, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator sometimes monitor call for training requirements.
