My wife and I are acquiring a newly built flat in Earls Barton and my conveyancer is telling me that she has to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to sign contracts and I don't want to prolong matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your solicitor. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is suspended from the Aldermore Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Earls Barton?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Earls Barton?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Earls Barton. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Earls Barton I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Earls Barton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.
We are 14 days into a residential purchase having been recommend to solicitors by the local agent to carry out the conveyancing in Earls Barton. I am not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
A conveyancer would have to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the loan offer been generated? In the event that it has you must inform them of the new contact details and ensure the mortgage documents are re-issued. The conveyancer needs to be on the mortgage company panel to avoid supplemental expenses and delays. So that should be your starting point. Our search tool will help you find a lender approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Earls Barton
My husband and I have recently had an offer accepted on a property and had an appointment on Monday with HSBC for the mortgage. They have informed us that when it comes to appointing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved panel of conveyancing practitioners then we will be subject to an an additional charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to select a solicitor to act for them in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we assume responsibility for their fees. I have asked HSBC to supply me with a list so I can request estimates only from their approved conveyancers but was told that I need to check with each individual lawyer to see if they are on the panel. Is their an easier way of going about this?
You should ask HSBC what their criteria for panel membership is for a conveyancer.Then ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC in the past. Where the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Alternatively please utilise our search facility and we may be able to locate a conveyancer in Earls Barton on the panel for HSBC.