We are acquiring a newly built apartment in Tenby and my solicitor is advising me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the developer. I am under pressure to exchange and I have no desire to delay deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Tenby costs more?
The conveyancing charges on a leasehold premises in Tenby is inevitably higher as compared to a freehold transaction. This is due to the extra investigations necessary in liaising with the landlord and managing agents to collate the evidence concerning whether the rent and service charges have been paid and whether there are any large sums expected to be spent in the near future on repairs or maintenance of the block.
Is it necessary during the course of the conveyancing process to have a meeting at the offices of the solicitor to sign the legal charge? If so, I will appoint a lawyer who conducts conveyancing in Tenby so that I can pop in to their offices if necessary.
As opposed to ten years ago, most banks no longer need their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID documents and there are still distinct advantages to instructing a local solicitor, in your situation a conveyancing solicitor in Tenby.
I'm buying my first flat in Tenby with a mortgage from Lloyds TSB Bank. The sellers would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my solicitor about the extras as it may impact my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Tenby I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Tenby for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
My partner and I are purchasing a ground floor flat in Tenby. When we first instructed conveyancing practitioner, they assured us that they were on all major UK lender panels. The financial adviser contacted us yesterday to advise that they don't seem to be on the Clydesdale approved list. Were it to be true, what should we do? Should we simply find a new solicitor that is on their approved list or do we cover the costs for separate representation, with Clydesdale selecting their own preferred conveyancing practitioner.
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the buyer’s solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a lawyer has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the solicitor has to satisfy. Some mortgage companies now insist their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should call Clydesdale to find out if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on Clydesdale's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Tenby solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another conveyancing practitioner into the equation.