I am selling my flat in Golders Green and the EA has just called to advise that the buyers are swapping law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only work with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a major mortgage company only deal with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Golders Green ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.
Mortgage companies attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
My grandson is buying a newly built flat in Golders Green with a mortgage from UBS. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the UBS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the UBS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
Is it necessary during the course of the conveyancing process to have a meeting at the offices of the solicitor to sign the legal charge? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in Golders Green so that I can pop in to their offices when needed.
Whereas this was necessary 15 years ago, almost all lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel lawyer to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID documents and there are still manifest benefits to using a locally based solicitor, in your situation a conveyancing solicitor in Golders Green.
This question may be naive but I am unexperienced as a first time purchaser of a garden flat in Golders Green. Do I pick up the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Golders Green?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Golders Green. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the completion advance to the owner’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be able to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I am the sole beneficiary of my late grandmother’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Golders Green. The Golders Green property was put into my name in September. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership will be considered the same way as if I'd bought the house in September. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook obliges conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be impacted by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the lender as this requirement principally exists to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of property.
My husband and I have arranged the release of further funds on our home loan from Coventry BS as we want to conduct improvements to our home in Golders Green. Do we need to appoint a local Golders Green solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Coventry BS would not normally appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one close by in Golders Green I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it's only got 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Golders Green suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
We're new on the property ladder - had an offer accepted, yet the property agent informed us that the vendor will only issue a contract if we use the agent's chosen solicitors as they need an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a high street solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Golders Green
We suspect that the seller is not behind this demand. Should the owner require ‘a quick sale', alienating a serious buyer is counter productive. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and explain that (a)you are motivated purchasers (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you are going to instruct your preferred Golders Green conveyancing lawyers - rather thanthose that will give the negotiator at the agency a kickback or meet his conveyancing thresholds pre-set by head office.