I am progressing with the sale of my house in Wigan and the EA has just text me to say that the buyers are appointing a new law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named lender only work with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Wigan ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.
Banks attribute this action to a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise 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 unlikely to have any impact on this.
Can the conveyancing lawyers that you recommend conduct auction conveyancing in Wigan?
There are a few auction lawyers we can connect you with those who can conduct auction conveyancing. Wigan is one of our locations where our lawyers are based.
My friend suggested that if I am purchasing in Wigan I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Wigan conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Wigan around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Wigan Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Wigan.
five months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Wigan took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I am purchasing my first flat in Wigan with a mortgage from Skipton Building Society. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not inform my solicitor about this side-deal as it could jeopardize my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.
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.
Fiveweeks into purchasing a residence in Wigan. Conveyancing lawyer has called to say the title is "Leasehold". Should this make a difference on our Santander valuation?
Wigan conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The main consideration here is the remaining lease term and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a nominal rent, it's virtually freehold, so it’s unlikely to affect the saleability too much.
At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, 50 years it is bound to have a material effect on the saleability, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be specified in the lease which should be made available to your solicitor.