I am one month into the sale of my home in Blackburn and the EA has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are changing their law firm. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only engage with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Blackburn ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for many years.
Lending institutions blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
We see that you have a post code search directory listing law firms on the UBS conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I appoint them for our own conveyancing in Blackburn?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the UBS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Blackburn.
My partner and I are intent on selling our home in Blackburn and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using an online conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Blackburn. Having lived in Blackburn for 4 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. What do they say? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)
five months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Blackburn concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 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 property 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.
I was advised by a few estate agents in Blackburn to find a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your services over and above a competitor’s?
We don’t make any financial incentive for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
My mum and dad cant seem to find their Blackburn property on the HMLR site. They recall that fifty years ago when they purchased the bungalow there were complications with Blackburn not being recognised in some systems.
Almost all premises in Blackburn should be revealed. Have you tried a search with just the postcode. Usually it should mention all the properties inside the postcode. Assuming the property is recorded it will be there with a title number. Where they bought fifty years ago it's conceivable it may be unrecorded. The address may still be revealed but with the title number identified as 'na'. In this scenario you will need to locate the original title documentation which may be with your parent’s mortgage company.