I plan on buying a leasehold flat in Waltham Forest. My property lawyer is not on the lender solicitor panel. Am I still permitted to use my Waltham Forest conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the lender approved list?
You have a couple of choices open to you here
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Waltham Forest lawyer but your lender will undoubtedly use a property lawyer from their conveyancing panel. The net result is additional charges together with probable frustration.
- Choose a new lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
- Appeal to your conveyancing practitioner to apply to join the lender panel
My god-son is buying a new build apartment in Waltham Forest with a mortgage from Skipton. His solicitor has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Skipton conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Skipton conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
My lender has suggested a law firm on their panel based in Waltham Forest but I would rather instruct a conveyancing lawyer in Waltham Forest or nearer to where I live. Are you able to help?
It is by no means the case that all Waltham Forest conveyancing firms are listed all banks conveyancing panel. Use the above search tool to identify a Waltham Forest conveyancing firm on the on the mortgage company panel.
Should my solicitor be making enquiries about flooding during the conveyancing in Waltham Forest.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors specialising in conveyancing in Waltham Forest. There are those who purchase a house in Waltham Forest, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or dispose of the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Solicitors are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, but there are a various searches that may be carried out by the buyer or by their conveyancers which will give them a better understanding of the risks in Waltham Forest. The conventional set of property information forms supplied to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a usual inquiry of the owner to find out whether the premises has ever been flooded. If flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the vendor, then a buyer could bring a legal claim for losses as a result of such an misleading response. The purchaser’s solicitors may also order an enviro search. This should reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations will need to be initiated.
Me and my brother own a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Waltham Forest. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Alliance & Leicester . I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. Is it worth asking Alliance & Leicester to clarify?
You should assess 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 proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Waltham Forest and other locations in 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 check the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.
I'm purchasing a new build house in Waltham Forest with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not disclose to my lawyer about this side-deal as it could put at risk my mortgage with HSBC Bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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.