My fiance and I decided to purchase a newbuild apartment in Cardiff Bay with a mortgage from The Royal Bank of Scotland.We use our Cardiff Bay conveyancing lawyer but The Royal Bank of Scotland advised that he's not on their approved list of firms. We have to appoint a The Royal Bank of Scotland panel firm or retain our local solicitor and pay for a The Royal Bank of Scotland panel lawyer to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The home loan offered to you contains terms and conditions, a common one being that conveyancers must be on the The Royal Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors 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. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for The Royal Bank of Scotland
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Cardiff Bay solicitor on the HSBC panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your HSBC mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Cardiff Bay. I have a mortgage offer with Clydesdale. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Clydesdale, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel.
I currently have a mortgage with Kent Reliance for my property in Cardiff Bay. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Kent Reliance?
Your original mortgage agreement with Kent Reliance will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Kent Reliance’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Kent Reliance will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Kent Reliance directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Kent Reliance conveyancing panel solicitor.
What will a local search tell me regarding the property my wife and I buying in Cardiff Bay?
Cardiff Bay conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company such as Onsearch The local search is essential in every Cardiff Bay conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty once you have moved into your new home. The search will provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.
It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Cardiff Bay completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. 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 residence 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 am purchasing my first flat in Cardiff Bay with a loan from Santander. The sellers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this side-deal as it would put at risk my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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 am looking for a flat up to £305k and found one near me in Cardiff Bay I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cardiff Bay for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.