My husband and I are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Bideford with a mortgage. We like our Bideford conveyancer, but the mortgage company advise he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to select one of the bank panel firms or retain our Bideford solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to demand that the bank use our Bideford property lawyer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s 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. Another option that might be available is for your Bideford conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
The Bideford conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Bideford have suddenly closed. I chose them because I needed a solicitor on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my preferred Bideford lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. 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 Virgin Money 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 should be in a position to assist.
Should our conveyancer be raising questions about flooding during the conveyancing in Bideford.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Bideford. There are those who acquire a property in Bideford, completely aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Solicitors are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that may be carried out by the purchaser or by their lawyers which will figure out the risks in Bideford. The conventional set of property information forms supplied to a buyer’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a usual inquiry of the owner to find out whether the property has suffered from flooding. If the property has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the owner, then a purchaser could commence a legal claim for losses resulting from an inaccurate response. The purchaser’s conveyancers should also order an enviro report. This will reveal whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be conducted.
I am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Bideford I like with a park and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Bideford suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
Taking into account that I will soon spend 450k on a house in Bideford I wish to talk to a lawyer regarding thehome move in advance of appointing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
Absolutely - 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 Bideford.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is an important individual, not a case number. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are quoted for residential conveyancing in Bideford should be the figure that you are charged.
We are in the throes of a leasehold sale of a flat in Bideford. Conveyancing lawyers are doing their job but we are being charged an extortionate amount by the freeholder. So far we have forked out £250 for a leasehold management pack and then a further £118 for answers to queries supplied by the buyers conveyancing practitioner.
Neither you or your property lawyer will have any say over the level of the fee for this information but the average fee for the information for Bideford leasehold property is £380. For Bideford conveyancing deals it is conventional for the seller to cover the costs. The landlord or their agents are under no statutory obligation to answer these questions although many will agree to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Regretfully there is no statute that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any statutory time limit by which they are duty bound to supply answers.