My husband and I are looking to acquire a home in Horfield and are in fact using a Horfield conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Lloyds TSB Bank have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Horfield solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 property lawyer 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Horfield lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Horfield? Is this really warranted?
You are right in these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in Horfield. However these days you will not be able to proceed with any conveyancing process without first providing proof of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence and a bank statement. Remember if you are providing your driving licence as evidence of ID it needs to be both the paper section as well as the photo card part, one is not satisfactory without the other.
Evidence of your origin of funds is mandated under Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when you are asked to produce this as your lawyer must retain this information on record. Your Horfield conveyancing solicitor 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 additional queries concerning the origin of monies.
My uncle passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Horfield. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Principality, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you intend to re-mortgage then Principality will require that you use a conveyancer on the Principality conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Principality conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Principality mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Horfield?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Horfield. 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…’
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Horfield I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Horfield suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises 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 current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
Are there any compelling advantages to selecting a high street conveyancer in Horfield
Lots of house movers in Horfield prefer a local lawyer so that they can pop into the lawyer’s offices just in case they have questions, and to deliver paperwork rather than run the risk of relying on the post.
One could allege that there exists a distinct advantage in opting for a conveyancing practitioner nearby to the house you are hoping to purchase, due to the in-depth knowledge of the region and possible local issues - yet this is debatable. Most conveyancers are now over the internet and could be almost anywhere.