My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Aylestone and have instructed a Aylestone conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Aylestone lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Aylestone solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
As someone not used to conveyancing in Aylestone what is your top tip you can impart concerning the legal transfer of property in Aylestone
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Aylestone and elsewhere in Leicestershire is an adversarial process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of opportunity for conflict between you and others involved in the legal transfer of property. E.g., the vendor, property agent and on occasion the mortgage company. Appointing a law firm for your conveyancing in Aylestone an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the process whose role it is to look after your legal interests and to keep you safe.
We are witnessing a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process taking so long. You your first instinct should be to trust your lawyer ahead of the other players in the home moving process.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a online directory to to identify law firms on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society conveyancing panel for instance in Aylestone?
We would not expect to be advised of any plans on the part of the BSA to develop such a search facility.
My wife and I purchased a 4 bedroom Victorian house in Aylestone. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Coventry Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Aylestone and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the position with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I'm purchasing a new build house in Aylestone with a loan from Santander. The developers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The estate agent told me not disclose to my conveyancer about this deal as it would adversely affect my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing lawyer in Aylestone for my house move. Can I review a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
Anyone can read documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations resulting from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information Pre 2008, or to check a firm's record, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For non-uk callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may monitor telephone calls for training purposes.