It is is a decade since I acquired my house in Beaufort. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down my title documents. Is this a problem?
Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be kept by your lender or they may still be with the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Beaufort involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
The Beaufort conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Beaufort have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel and my family Beaufort lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for £250 in advance. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in Beaufort what would it be?
We would encourage you not to go for the lowest Beaufort conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of the deal.
When it comes to lenders such as TSB, do Beaufort conveyancing practitioners incur a yearly amount to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are unaware of any bank fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
I'm in the throws of viewing flats in Beaufort and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it best to have a conveyancer on ‘stand by’? I will be getting a home loan with Barclays.
You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are seeking a mortgage with Barclays, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel.
I am buying my first flat in Beaufort benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about the extras as it could jeopardize my loan with Yorkshire Building Society. 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.
I'm remortgaging my existing house to a buy to let mortgage with Nationwide Building Society and I will use the ballance of the raised equity as a down payment on further house. The location we are looking at is Beaufort. Will your lawyers be able to act for both sets of lenders and link together the transactions?
Make use of our comparison tool on this site to ensure that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panels. Having checked that they are your lawyer will be able to connect the two conveyancing matters but you should have a chat with you conveyancer and communicate your desired outcome and needs.
My 20yr old son is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. One the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we contacted the lender to move forward with his. I was shocked to hear that banks do not accept all conveyancing practitioner, they have to be on a list, is this correct?
Banks normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Beaufort conveyancing practitioner on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.