I can't travel far from Louth. Can you please clarify why all Louth conveyancing practitioners are not on all lender panels?
Lenders tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm is required to have at least two partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some building societies made a decision to reduce the number of conveyancers they allow to act for them. It is worth noting that building societies have no accountability for the accuracy of advice supplied by any Louth solicitor on their approved list. Property fraud was a key driver in the reduction of solicitor panels from 2008 even though there are contrary points of view concerning the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Data via HM Land Registry indicates that thousands of conveyancing firms only conduct a couple of conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts question why conveyancing firms should have any entitlement to be on a bank panel when clearly conveyancing is not their speciality?
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Louth? What am I being asked for?
You are right in the requirement set out by your lawyer has nothing to do with conveyancing in Louth. Nowadays you will not be able to proceed with any conveyancing deal in the absence providing proof of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence and a council tax bill. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as proof of ID it must be both the paper element as well as the photo card part, one is not satisfactory without the other.
Proof of your origin of monies is mandated under Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when when this is requested of you as your lawyer will need to have this information on record. Your Louth conveyancing practitioner will require evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any funds from you into their client account and they will also ask further questions concerning the source of monies.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Clydesdale. I assume I don't need a Louth conveyancing practitioner on the Clydesdale panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale mortgage from the register. Clydesdale, 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 Clydesdale has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Clydesdale has instructed the Land Registry to do so
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called into my local Louth bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My Louth conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- telephoned to say that they will not lend based on their published requirements. I have no idea who is right.
The solicitor has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Louth. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £150. A couple of days later, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
I am looking for a flat up to £305k and identified one near me in Louth I like with open areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Louth in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan that many years will be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign 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 about this.
Do I need to be suspicious that estate agents that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use an online conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Louth conveyancing company?
As is the case with many service providers, often recommendations from relatives can be most helpful. Nevertheless there are numerous players in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks might all suggest conveyancers to retain. Sometimes these conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but sometimes there may be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You have the right to select your own lawyer. You need to be aware that most banks operate an approved list of conveyancers you must use for the lender aspect of your transaction.
My husband and I are 17 days into a freehold purchase having been directed to a firm by the local agent to do our conveyancing in Louth. I am am extremely dissatisfied with the level of service. Can you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
A solicitor would need to be very poor in order to consider changing them. Has your loan offer been sent? In the event that it has you need to make them aware of the new lawyer and have the loan are re-sent. The solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks panel to avoid added expenses and frustration. That should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The search tool will help you find a lender approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in Louth