I am one month into the sale of my apartment in Trefnant and the estate agent has just called to say that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only engage with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major lender only engage with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Trefnant ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for many years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms 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.
My husband and I are buying a newly converted apartment in Trefnant with a residential mortgage from Bank of Ireland.We use our Trefnant conveyancing lawyer but Bank of Ireland says she’s not listed on their "panel". We have to appoint a Bank of Ireland panel firm or keep our preferred solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Bank of Ireland use our lawyer?
Unfortunately,no. The home loan offered to you is subject to its various provisions, one of which will be that conveyancers must be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. in the past, most banks had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Bank of Ireland
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Trefnant?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Trefnant. 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…’
I am purchasing my first flat in Trefnant with a mortgage from Virgin Money. The developers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it would impact my mortgage with the lender. 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.
Taking into account that I will soon spend 450k on a terraced house in Trefnant I would like to have a conversation with the conveyancer regarding theconveyancing in advance of instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?
We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the conveyancer due to be carrying out your conveyancing in Trefnant.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important individual, not a case reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for your conveyancing in Trefnant should be the figure that you end up paying.
My partner and I are buying a garden flat in Trefnant. When we first instructed solicitor, they said that they were on all mainstream bank panels. The financial adviser emailed yesterday to say that they don't appear to be on the Skipton approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Do we just choose a different lawyer that is on their approved list or should we pay for dual representation, with Skipton appointing their own approved lawyer.
When acquiring a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the buyer’s solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor 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 conditions which the conveyancing practitioner has to fulfill. Some building societies now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your conveyancer should call Skipton to find out 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 don't have to instruct a firm on Skipton's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Trefnant solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another solicitor into the equation.