My house in Highams Park is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Does my conveyancing practitioner have to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.
I am helping my mother sell her house in Highams Park. Does the conveyancing solicitor arrange the EPC or it is for the owner to see to?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, EPC’s was retained a compulsory component of moving property. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand prior to the property being advertised. It is not a task that solicitors ordinarily arrange. If you are using a Highams Park conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy assessments given their contacts with long established Highams Park accredited person
I can not fathom if my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called into my local Highams Park building society branch on various occasions and was reassured it wasn't an issue and they would lend. My Highams Park conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they would not lend based on their specific requirements. Who do I believe?
As long as the conveyancer is on the mortgage company approved list, she or he must follow the CML Handbook conditions for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Highams Park. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My friend advised me that where I am buying in Highams Park I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Highams Park conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Highams Park around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Highams Park Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Highams Park Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Highams Park.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Highams Park?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Highams Park. 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…’
We're novice buyers - had an offer accepted, but the selling agent has warned us that the vendor will only go ahead if we instruct their recommended solicitors as they want an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local conveyancer who is familiar with conveyancing in Highams Park
It is improbable the vendors are driving this. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated purchaser is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Speak to the vendors direct and make the point that (a)you are motivated purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you are going to instruct your preferred Highams Park conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide the estate agent a introducer fee or hit his conveyancing figures demanded by HQ.
How much experience do your Highams Park conveyancing solicitors have with Help To Buy, Shared Equity and similar schemes?
Highams Park conveyancing lawyers help thousands of people move home every year and supported plenty of clients through the Help To Buy scheme. The chances are that whatever makes your case unique Highams Park conveyancers have worked on recent similar matters.