My partner and I are planning to buy a property in Chorlton and have appointed a Chorlton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Chorlton lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Chorlton lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We note that you have a search directory identifying firms on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for our conveyancing in Chorlton?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Chorlton.
I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in Chorlton for our home move. Our financial adviser informed us that our bank National Westminster Bank won't deal with them. Surely this is unduly restrictive?
Banks ordinarily imposes restrictions either the category or the volume of conveyancing practices on their member panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the type of firm, some have reduced the amount of solicitor practices they use to act for them. Be aware that National Westminster Bank have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of National Westminster Bank Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the reduction of conveyancing panels a few years ago even though there are differing views regarding the extent of solicitor engagement in some of that fraud. Figures from the Land Registry indicate that hundreds of law firms, including some in or near Chorlton only execute one or two conveyances a year.
I am purchasing my first flat in Chorlton with a mortgage from Britannia. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the extras as it may impact my loan with Britannia. 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.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Chorlton is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Chorlton are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Chorlton you must be sure that your lawyer goes 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 Chorlton 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.
I am looking into buying my first house which is in Chorlton and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Chorlton. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Chorlton area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Chorlton. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found