I am nearing exchange of contracts for my apartment in St John's Wood and the estate agent has just e-mailed to warn that the buyers are changing their solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only engage with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in St John's Wood ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for many years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
Our lawyer has uncovered a defect with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in St John's Wood. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our lawyer has advised that he must ensure that the lender is willing to move forward with this solution. Are we the client or is the lender?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the lender are the client. Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your property lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
I am selling my home in St John's Wood. Will the solicitor have to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Kent Reliance 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 panel criteria fairly frequently at the moment.
Me and my partner are buying a flat in St John's Wood. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we have to deposit our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Is it correct that all St John's Wood CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing list of approved solicitors?
It is true that some lenders now make use of CQS as the kick off point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to join their panels.
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 John's Wood solicitor - who is on the Santander conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Santander will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Santander 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 John's Wood 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.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in St John's Wood?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in St John's Wood. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
We are in the process of selling our flat in St John's Wood. Conveyancing is fine but we have been asked to pay an extortionate amount by the freeholder. So far we have forked out £250 for a leasehold management information and then a further £134.40 for supplemental queries raised by the buyers lawyer.
Neither you or your lawyer will have any control over the level of the bill for this information however the typical costs for the information for St John's Wood leasehold premises is £395. For St John's Wood conveyancing sales it is customary for the vendor to cover the charges. The landlord or their agents are under no statutory obligation to answer these questions most will agree to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Regretfully there is no law that mandates set fees for administrative tasks. There is no set time limit by which they are duty bound to supply the information.