We are about to exchange buying a house in Blackwall but as a consequence of wreckage from some water damage at the property I have managed to agree recompense from the current proprietors of £2k taking the form of a reduction in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of amending the contract but Santander will not agree to this. Should they have been approached?
Your lawyer being on a Santander approved list is required to inform Santander of any amendments to the sale price. If you prohibit your conveyancing practitioner to disclose the reduction to Santander then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Santander and you would have to appoint a new property lawyer for your conveyancing in Blackwall.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Blackwall last August but our buyer keeps Skype messaging daily to moan that his conveyancer needs to hear from mysolicitor. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
After completion of your house sale your lawyer should forward the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer must also confirm that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been redeemed to the purchasers conveyancers. There are no post completion tasks specific conveyancing in Blackwall.
A colleague advised me that in buying a property in Blackwall there could be a number of restrictions as to what one can do in terms of external alterations to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Blackwall which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Blackwall should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
My husband and I have organised the release of further monies on our home loan from Lloyds as we want to carry out a loft conversion to our house in Blackwall. Are we obliged to appoint a bricks and mortar Blackwall solicitor on the Lloyds conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Lloyds don't usually appoint firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Lloyds panel.
It is unclear whether my lender obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Blackwall bank branch on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My Blackwall conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called to say that they will not lend based on their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?
As long as the property lawyer is on the bank panel, she or he must adhere to the CML Handbook provisions for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Blackwall. I now require my file however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Blackwall of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Blackwall is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Blackwall are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Blackwall you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Blackwall may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
Me and my fiance have recently had an offer accepted on a apartment and had meeting on Tuesday with Nationwide for the mortgage. They advised me that when it comes to appointing a conveyancing practitioner that unless they are on their approved panel of conveyancing practitioners then we will have to pay out an extra fee of £200. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to instruct a conveyancer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select on our behalf and we will be on the hook for their fees. I have asked Nationwide to send me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved lawyers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of Nationwide what their criteria for panel membership is for a conveyancer.Then ask the solicitor of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for Nationwide historically. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with Nationwide. Another option is to make use of our search tool and we may be able to find you a solicitor in Blackwall on the approved list for Nationwide.