My fiance and I are looking to buy a flat in Broughton and are in fact using a Broughton conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Clydesdale have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Broughton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Broughton solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am approaching an exchange on a house in Broughton and my mum and dad have transferred the exchange deposit to my conveyancing practitioner. I am now informed that as the deposit has not arrived from me my conveyancer needs to make a notification to my lender. Apparently, in also acting for the bank he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I disclosed to the mortgage company about my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really appropriate for this now to delay the deal?
The conveyancer is obliged to check with lender to ensure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. Your solicitor can only disclose this to your bank if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
I happen to be the only recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Broughton. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in December. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership could be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the house in December. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. Most mortgage companies would take a practical view as this obligation is principally there to identify subsales or the flipping of properties.
We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers located in Broughton on the Leeds Building Society solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a supplemental amount for dealing with the Leeds Building Society mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Leeds Building Society?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your property lawyer is entitled to charge a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by Leeds Building Society but by your Broughton conveyancer. Plenty of firms on the Leeds Building Society panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some firms include it on their overall fee.
We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Barclays as we intend to conduct renovations to our house in Broughton. Do we need to appoint a local Broughton solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Barclays would not normally appoint a member of their conveyancing panel 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 Barclays panel.
Various web forums that I have visited warn that are the primary reason for delay in Broughton house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Broughton.
five months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Broughton concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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.
When it comes to my conveyancing in Broughton should I be paying VAT on the following: (1) Land reg fee on purchase (2) Pre - completion search fee (3) SDLT E submission on purchase (4) Bank TT fee
(1) Land reg fee on purchase - No (2) Pre - completion search fees -No, (such conveyancing searches are HMLR ones and means £4 and possibly £2 bankruptcy per name on your mortgage) (3) SDLT E submission on your purchase - There is no VAT on Stamp Duty. However if the firm is charging a stamp duty e-submission fee as part of their services - some Broughton conveyancers do - that will incur VAT(4) Bank transfer fee - Yes it is for the solicitor's time in submitting the funds this way.