My wife and I are buying a new build duplex in Holbrook and my conveyancer is informing me that she has to the lender to reveal incentives from the builder. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange 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 lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
We're in Holbrook, First timers buying with a mortgage (lender is Kent Reliance , and our lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
My friend recommended that if I am buying in Holbrook I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Holbrook conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Holbrook around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Holbrook Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Holbrook Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Holbrook.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Holbrook with a loan from Aldermore. The developers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about this extras as it could jeopardize my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.
How do I locate a Holbrook solicitor on the Aldermore conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am willing to travel upto 10miles to meet the conveyancer.
You can use the tool on this page. Please select a bank and your location and you will see a number of Holbrook conveyancing lawyers locally. We have listed some Holbrook conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can ring them to see whether they are on the Aldermore panel
I need to change lawyers as my Holbrook lawyer is not on the lender's panel of conveyancing solicitors. How simple is it to change conveyancer?
In the event that you have not formally instructed a conveyancer to start work and at this stage simply received an estimate as to costs, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in Holbrook that you're thinking of instructing.