My wife and I are purchasing a 2 bedroom flat in Upton with a mortgage. We like our Upton solicitor, but the lender says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have no option but to appoint one of the bank panel firms or continue with our Upton solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not demand that the bank use our Upton solicitor ?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose 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 Upton conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My husband and I are purchasing a new build duplex in Upton and my conveyancer is telling me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the developer. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and my preference is not to prolong matters. 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 lender 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.
We're in Upton, First timers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Kent Reliance , and our solicitor is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as HSBC, do Upton solicitors have to pay an annual charge to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their panel, although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
Is it the case that all Upton solicitor firms on the RBS conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the RBS conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I currently have a mortgage with Yorkshire BS for my property in Upton. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Yorkshire BS?
You must advise Yorkshire BS before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Yorkshire BS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent 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 Yorkshire BS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel firm.
We are selling our property in Upton and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A high street Upton conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a factory type conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Upton. We have lived in Upton for three years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to get in touch with our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor already. What do they say? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)
Myself and my wife have just had an offer accepted on a apartment and had an appointment on Monday with HSBC for the mortgage. They have informed us that when it comes to appointing a conveyancing practitioner that if they are not on their approved list of lawyers then we will incur a further charge of £200. This is because they will then have to appoint a property lawyer to act for them in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have asked HSBC to supply me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a list online?
Ask HSBC what their criteria for joining their panel is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC previously. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with HSBC. Another option is to use our search facility and we may be able to locate a conveyancer in Upton on the panel for HSBC.