we are a couple who are purchasing a newbuild apartment in Albany Park with a homeloan from Coventry Building Society.We have a Albany Park conveyancing lawyer but Coventry Building Society says he's not listed on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to instruct a Coventry Building Society panel lawyer or keep our local solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The loan issued to you contains various provisions, one of which will be that lawyers needs to be on the Coventry Building Society 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 solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Coventry Building Society
Is it the case that all Albany Park solicitor firms on the Nationwide conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I am buying a property in Albany Park. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Clydesdale have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Clydesdale your lawyer must follow the conveyancing instructions outlined in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Clydesdale. The CML Handbook sets out minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Clydesdale where a lease fails to satisfy these provisions. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Albany Park.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Yorkshire BS. I assume I don't need a Albany Park conveyancer on the Yorkshire BS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Yorkshire BS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Yorkshire BS mortgage from the register. Yorkshire BS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Yorkshire BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Yorkshire BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I'm buying my first flat in Albany Park benefiting from help to buy. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not to tell my lawyer about this deal as it would impact my loan with The Royal Bank of Scotland. 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.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, chain free conveyancing. Albany Park is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Albany Park are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Albany Park you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Albany Park may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Taking into account that I will soon part with £400,000 on a property in Albany Park I would like to have a conversation with the conveyancer concerning theconveyancing prior to instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
We could not agree more - we would be pleased to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the solicitor due to be carrying out your conveyancing in Albany Park.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important individual, not a file reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for residential conveyancing in Albany Park should be the figure that you are charged.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the lender approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.