My wife and I are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Lapworth with a mortgage. We like our Lapworth solicitor, but the mortgage company advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or retain our Lapworth conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not require that the bank use our Lapworth property lawyer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Lapworth conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Lapworth last May but the buyer keeps telephoning daily to moan that their conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
After completion of your sale your solicitor is duty bound to send the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. If applicable, your lawyer should also confirm that the home loan has been paid off to the purchasers lawyers. There are no post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Lapworth.
We're in Lapworth, First timers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Principality , and our lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer 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 partner and I are in the process of looking at houses in Lapworth and I am about to put in an offer. Is it sensible to have my conveyancing practitioner on ‘stand by’? I am planning to take a mortgage with Nationwide.
It would be advisable to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the selling agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Nationwide, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I currently have a mortgage with Skipton for my property in Lapworth. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Skipton?
Skipton must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Skipton’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Skipton 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 Skipton directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Skipton conveyancing panel firm.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Lapworth. My financial adviser suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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.
A relative suggested that where I am buying in Lapworth 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?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Lapworth conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Lapworth around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Lapworth Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Lapworth Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Lapworth.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Lapworth I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Lapworth for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.