I am 3 weeks into the sale of my ground floor flat in Maze Hill and the EA has just text me to say that the purchasers are swapping property lawyer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named lender only engage with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Maze Hill ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for many years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Maze Hill last March yet the purchaser is Skype messaging me to moan that her conveyancer needs to hear from mylawyer. What should have happened following completion?
After completion of your disposal your conveyancer should deliver the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. Where relevant, your conveyancer should also confirm that the mortgage has been repaid to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion steps just for conveyancing in Maze Hill.
My colleague advised me that where I am buying in Maze Hill I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Maze Hill conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Maze Hill around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Maze Hill Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Maze Hill.
How simple is it to use the search facility to find a conveyancing lawyer in Maze Hill on the authorised to act for my lender?
Step one is to pick a lender such as Yorkshire Building Society, Virgin Money or Aldermore then specify your location for instance Maze Hill. Conveyancing practices in Maze Hill and across England and Wales will then be identified.
Is it best to choose a Maze Hill conveyancing lawyer based in the vicinity that I am buying? We have a good friend who can carry out the legal formalities however her office is a couple of hundredkilometers away.
The benefit of a local Maze Hill conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to execute paperwork, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and in the main were happy that must surpass using an unfamiliar Maze Hill conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being round the corner.
My husband and I are planning to purchase a three room flatin Maze Hill with a residential mortgage from a mortgage company. We have a conveyancer in Maze Hill but our lender says she’s not on their "panel". Apparently we need to choose from the our mortgage company panel solicitors or stay with our Maze Hill solicitor and incur the extra costs for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The lender home loan issued is subject to conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will on the bank's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels, including many conveyancing solicitors in Maze Hill : 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.