Our son-in-law is about to exchange on a newly built flat in London with a mortgage from Kent Reliance. His conveyancer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
Should conveyancers ask for an advanced payment when it comes to conveyancing in London?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in London your solicitor will request that you put them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. Generally this is called for to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is as part of the total price then this should be required shortly in advance of exchange of contracts. The closing balance that is needed should be sent to your lawyer a few days prior to the day of completion.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as FTB of a ground floor flat in London. Do I collect the keys to the house on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in London?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the owner’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.
I'm spending time viewing flats in London and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a home loan with HSBC.
It would be prudent to commence your search sooner rather than later. 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 contact information on to the estate agent. As you are taking out a mortgage with HSBC, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the HSBC conveyancing panel.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Santander. I assume I don't need a London conveyancing practitioner on the Santander panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Santander mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Santander mortgage from the register. Santander, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Santander has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Santander has instructed the Land Registry to do so
How do I use the search facility to get a costs illustration from a conveyancing lawyer in London on the approved list for my lender?
First pick a lender such as Birmingham Midshires, Bank of Scotland or Alliance & Leicester then specify your preferred area a common one being London. Conveyancing firms in London and across England and Wales will then be shown.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my father I am selling a property in Newport but reside in London. My conveyancer (approximately 200 miles awayneeds me to execute a stat dec before completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in London who can witness this legal document for me?
strictly speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are London based
What can I do where I am unhappy with the lawyer who handled my conveyancing in London?
We live in an imperfect world, and unfortunately every so often things do go wrong. However there is recourse if you were not happy with your conveyancing in London. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a conveyancer to their governing body. If you remain unhappy you may consider enlisting the help of the Legal Ombudsman.