Unfortunately I am unable to travel far from Whalley. Is there a reason why all Whalley lawyers are not on all bank panels?
Banks ordinarily restrict either the nature or volume of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that the organisation must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the structure of firm, some banks such as HSBC decided to limit the number of organisations they allow to act for them. It is worth noting that building societies have no liability for the quality of conveyancing supplied by any Whalley solicitor on their panel. Increases in mortgage fraud was the primary trigger for the culling of conveyancing panels from 2008 notwithstanding that there are conflicting points of view about whether solicitors sat at the center of that fraud. Statistics published by HMLR exposes that thousands of conveyancing firms only carry out one or two conveyances annually. Those vindicating conveyancing panel culls ask why conveyancing firms deserve the right to be on a conveyancing panel when it is apparent that property law is not their speciality?
My partner and I are buying a new build duplex in Whalley and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the lender to disclose incentives from the developer. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I have no desire to prolong the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. 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.
At what point will exchange of contracts occur in purchase conveyancing in Whalley and am I required to be at the solicitors branch?
If you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in Whalley you are invited in to sign the paperwork. That being said, the lender approved solicitors we work with provide a countrywide conveyancing service and give as equally detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The executing of the property agreement is not when everything is set in stone. A signed contract is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where an extended "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Whalley)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
We had chosen solicitors located in Whalley on the RBS solicitor panel. They have just billed me an additional amount for handling the RBS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by RBS?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your conveyancer can charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by RBS but by your Whalley lawyer. Some firms on the RBS panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
It is unclear whether my mortgage offer requires a lease extension. I have called my Whalley building society branch on numerous occasions and was told it wasn't an issue and they would lend. My Whalley conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called to say that they refuse to lend in accordance with their published requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
As long as the solicitor is on the bank approved list, they must adhere to the CML Handbook requirements for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Whalley. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £150. A couple of days later, the lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Virgin Money panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Various web forums that I have visited warn that are a common reason for stalling in Whalley conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Whalley.
How does conveyancing in Whalley differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Whalley contact us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is finished. This is because builders in Whalley usually acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Whalley or who has acted in the same development.