Completed the sale of my flat in Crawley last May but the buyer keeps texting daily to moan that their solicitor needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?
Post completion of your sale your lawyer should send the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. If applicable, your conveyancer should also evidence that the mortgage has been repaid to the buyers lawyers. There is unlikely to be post completion steps peculiar conveyancing in Crawley.
When it comes to lenders such as HSBC, do Crawley conveyancers incur a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any bank fees to be on their panel, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
We previously instructed solicitors locally in Crawley on the RBS solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional sum for the legal aspects of the RBS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by RBS?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your property lawyer can levy a fee for this. This charge is not set by RBS but by your Crawley solicitor. Plenty of firms on the RBS panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I have paid off my mortgage with Virgin Money. I assume I don't need a Crawley conveyancer on the Virgin Money panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money mortgage from the register. Virgin Money, 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 Virgin Money has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Virgin Money has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I used Arc property Solicitors a few years ago for my conveyancing in Crawley. I now require my papers but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down 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 Crawley of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am purchasing my first flat in Crawley benefiting from help to buy. The sellers would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my lawyer about this side-deal as it may impact my mortgage with Accord Mortgages Ltd. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Do I need to be suspicious that estate agents that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a national conveyancing firm rather than a local Crawley conveyancing firm?
As is the case with many professional services, often referrals from relatives can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are lots of parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and mortgage companies might all recommend conveyancers to select. On occasion these solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but occasionally there may be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are free to choose your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that most lenders specify a panel list of lawyers you must use for the mortgage aspect of your house move.
Living abroad it is not practicable to be present at my Crawley conveyancing solicitors office to sign documents for conveyancing in Crawley – is this a problem?
You need not be concerned. Crawley conveyancing lawyers can deal with home moves for clients who are based anywhere. It is not necessary for you to be able to be present a Crawley conveyancers office. Almost all conveyancing practitioner can undertake all communications using post, email, telephone and fax.