I am in a contract race with another prospective purchaser for a property in Aldermanbury. What can I do to expedite matters?
In a situation where you are under pressure for your conveyancing we would recommend that your conveyancer is familiar with the location as they will have local contacts and intelligence. It is even conceivable that they may have handled previoushomes in the same neighbourhood. Therefore consider using a Aldermanbury conveyancing lawyer. Second, be sure that the lawyer is on the on the approved list for your mortgage company. It is believed that just under twenty per cent of Aldermanbury conveyancing transactions are suspended or derailed after finding out that a buyer’s solicitor was not on their banks panel. This can often result in the transaction being frustrated by almost three weeks. It is believed that this issue impacts in the region of 100,000 home sales every year. Most Aldermanbury conveyancing firms can not represent certain mortgage companies so do check at the outset.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in Aldermanbury for our house move. Our broker informed us that our mortgage company Clydesdale won't deal with them. Surely this is unfair competition?
Pre- 2008 most banks had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all Aldermanbury conveyancing firms would have been on many lender panels. The Financial Services Authority in 2010 carried out a thematic review into mortgage fraud which concluded: mortgage lenders should know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, lenders are increasingly seeing more data from law firms about their operations and their employees as well as establishing certain criteria such a completing on a minimum amount of conveyancing. Many Aldermanbury conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have a 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Aldermanbury is amongst the many areas where the lawyers we list are members of the panel for Clydesdale.
is it true that all Aldermanbury conveyancing solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
My wife and I are in the process of viewing flats in Aldermanbury and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a home loan with RBS.
It would be prudent to instigate your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their details on to the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with RBS, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the RBS conveyancing panel.
Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Aldermanbury solicitor - who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Clydesdale will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Clydesdale will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Aldermanbury postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Clydesdale, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Aldermanbury.
My colleague suggested that where I am purchasing in Aldermanbury I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally included in the estimate for your Aldermanbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Aldermanbury 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 House Prices, Crime details, Aldermanbury Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Aldermanbury.
It has been 2 months since my purchase conveyancing in Aldermanbury concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 asset 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.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my uncle I am disposing of a house in Neath but I am based in Aldermanbury. My lawyer (who is 235 kilometers from mehas requested that I execute a statutory declaration prior to completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Aldermanbury to witness and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you should not need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are located in Aldermanbury