My Solicitor in March is not listed on the Virgin Money Conveyancing Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Virgin Money list of approved lawyers?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred March lawyers but Virgin Money will need to use a solicitor on their list of acceptable firms. This will result in additional total conveyancing fees as well as result in delays.
- Get a new solicitor to to deal with the purchase, obviously checking they are Persuade your conveyancer to use their best endeavours to join the Virgin Money conveyancing panel
A colleague recommended that where I am purchasing in March I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard March conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about March around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the March Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, March Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about March.
The deeds to my property are lost. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in March 5 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
Assuming you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be recorded by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is possible to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and order current copies of the property title for a small fee. If the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I am buying my first flat in March with a loan from Halifax. The sellers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative told me not inform my conveyancer about this deal as it would put at risk my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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 am using a search engine for the phrase conveyancing in March it reveals numerous property lawyersin the vicinity. How do I determine which is the right conveyancing solicitor for the sale of my house?
The best method of finding a suitable conveyancer is through a personal referral, so ask colleagues and those you trust who have acquired a property in March or a local estate agent or mortgage broker. Costs for conveyancing in March differ, so it's sensible to request at least four fee estimates from different conveyancers. Make sure that you clarify that the fees are fixed.
I happen to be an executor of my recently deceased mother’s Will, with a house in March which will be sold. The house is unregistered at the Land Registry and I'm advised that some purchasers will insist that it is done before they will move forward. What's the procedure for this?
In the circumstances you refer to it seems sensible to apply to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. The Land Registry’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.