I am buying a newly constructed apartment in Ascot and my conveyancer is advising me that she is duty bound to the lender to reveal incentives from the seller. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I would rather not delay the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your solicitor. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
What does a local search tell me concerning the house I am buying in Ascot?
Ascot conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Searchflow The local search plays a central part in many a Ascot conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search will reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject sections.
The deeds to our property are lost. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in Ascot 5 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
As long as the title is registered the information relating to your ownership will be held by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is possible to perform a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and obtain current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for £20 inclusive of VAT.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Ascot prior to retaining lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to give a loan on this type of house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you call us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Ascot. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
Is it simple use your search tool to find a conveyancing solicitor in Ascot on the approved list for my bank?
1st choose a bank such as Birmingham Midshires, Skipton Building Society or Alliance & Leicester then choose your preferred area for instance Ascot. Conveyancing organisations in Ascot and nationally will then be listed.
Me and my wife have just had an offer accepted on a property and had meeting on Monday with HSBC for the mortgage. They advised me that when it comes to choosing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved panel of lawyers then we will incur an extra charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to select a conveyancer to act on their behalf as well as the one we choose to act on our behalf and we assume responsibility for their fees. I have requested HSBC to provide me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved solicitors but was told that I need to check with each individual solicitor to see if they are on the panel. What would be the best way of going about this?
You can enquire of HSBC what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the lawyer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on mortgages for HSBC in the past. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with HSBC. Another option is to make use of our search tool and we may be able to find you a conveyancer in Ascot on the panel for HSBC.