My partner and I are looking to purchase a house in Kingsnorth and are in fact using a Kingsnorth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Virgin Money have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Kingsnorth solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Kingsnorth lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
It is 10 years ago since I purchased my property in Kingsnorth. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate the deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be kept by the mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw the purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers procuring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Kingsnorth involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
Do I need to attend the offices of the solicitor to execute the mortgage deed? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in Kingsnorth so that I can attend their offices if required.
Most approved lawyers for lenders carry out all of the work via the post, e-mail or over the phone. This means that they can undertake the conveyancing transaction regardless of where you live in the country. Nevertheless you can see if you can still book an appointment to visit conveyancing lawyer if just in case this is required.
I am the sole beneficiary of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Kingsnorth. The Kingsnorth property was put into my name in September. I want to move. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership will be considered the same way as if I'd bought the property in September. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates 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 affected by that. How sensible a view lenders take of it, depend on the mortgage company as this requirement is principally there to pick up on subsales or the quick reselling of property.
My wife and I are in the process of looking at flats in Kingsnorth and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it wise to have a conveyancer on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Lloyds.
You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the EA. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Lloyds, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Kingsnorth on 21/8/2025, valuation was booked 3 days after, all came back fine. Solicitor instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Bank of Ireland and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Are Bank of Ireland entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Bank of Ireland to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Kingsnorth with a loan from Santander. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my lawyer about this extras as it will affect my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.
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.
I would like to rent out my leasehold apartment in Kingsnorth. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?
A small minority of properties in Kingsnorth do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.
I purchased a studio flat in Kingsnorth, conveyancing formalities finalised January 2008. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Kingsnorth with over 90 years remaining are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2094
You have 69 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.