My wife and I are planning to purchase a house in Highworth and have appointed a Highworth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barclays have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Highworth solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Highworth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Can the conveyancing practitioners that you recommend perform right to buy conveyancing in Highworth?
We have identified plenty of conveyancing practitioners who can conduct right to buy transactions Please get in touch with us with a view to obtain a costs calculation.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Highworth? Why is this being asked of me?
It is indeed that case that the requirement set out by your solicitor has nothing to do with conveyancing in Highworth. However these days you can not proceed with any conveyancing process in the absence submitting proof of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence as well as a council tax bill. Please note that if you are supplying your driving licence as proof of ID it must be both the paper part as well as the photo card part, one is not sufficient in the absence of the other.
Verification of your source of funds is mandated in accordance with the Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancing solicitor must retain this information on file. Your Highworth conveyancing lawyer will need to see evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any funds from you into their client account and they should also ask further questions regarding the source of monies.
Are all Highworth Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Aldermore conveyancing list of approved firms?
It is true that some banks and building societies now make use of CQS as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to remain on their panels.
is it true that all Highworth solicitor firms on the UBS conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the UBS conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be governed by the CLC.
I have a mortgage with Santander for my property in Highworth. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Santander?
You must advise Santander before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Santander’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Santander directly. You need not do this via a Santander conveyancing panel solicitor.
I used Arc property Solicitors a few years ago for my conveyancing in Highworth. Now, I need the files however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do 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 Highworth of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am buying my first flat in Highworth benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative told me not reveal to my lawyer about the extras as it could jeopardize my loan with Nationwide Building Society. 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.