My partner and I are hoping to buy a flat in Fishponds and have appointed a Fishponds conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Leeds Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Fishponds conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Fishponds 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 require conveyancing for a flat in a relatively new development (five years built) in Fishponds. 95% of the flats are already occupied. Do I need carry out the conveyancing searches for my conveyancing in Fishponds?
You would be putting yourself at risk in not carrying out Fishponds conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying mortgage free there is no legal requirement to have them, but we would strongly advise in the strongest possible terms that you have them. Where accelerating the process and cost are top of your concerns you should discuss with your lawyer about the options such as indemnity insurance available to you
What will a local search reveal regarding the house my wife and I buying in Fishponds?
Fishponds conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company such as Searchflow The local search plays a central part in many a Fishponds conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any unpleasant once you have moved into your new home. The search should reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (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 headings.
I am purchasing my first flat in Fishponds with a mortgage from Barclays Direct. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with Barclays Direct. Should I keep quiet?.
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.
Hoping to buy a property located in Fishponds and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Fishponds. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Fishponds area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Fishponds. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
My boyfriend is purchasing a ground floor flat in Fishponds. He has received a fee estimate by the conveyancing practitioner connected to the selling agents and it came to £1275 . It was fifteen years ago since I sold and bought a house and it cost was £495. Have costs really gone up that much?
We would recommend that you visit 3 or 4 local Fishponds conveyancing solicitors requesting prices. It is advisable to base your decision not just on cost, but on promptness and on how comprehensive the reply was.