I am nearing exchange of contracts for my house in Merton Park and the EA has just called to advise that the buyers are changing their solicitor. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Merton Park ?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.
Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to reveal 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. The purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
We were just about to exchange contracts for a ground floor flat in Merton Park. We have hit a snag. Our mortgage offer with Alliance & Leicester expires on 5/1/2026 but the sellers are putting forward a completion date of 7/1/2026. Can one extend the mortgage offer?
The best person to address this question is your solicitors who will hopefully determine whether they better off negotiating with the lender, owner’s conveyancers, selling agents or indeed all parties taking into account the history of your conveyancing to date.
A relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Merton Park I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your Merton Park conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Merton Park around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Merton Park Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Merton Park Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Merton Park.
I acquired my home on 4 November and my personal details is not yet registered. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Merton Park expressed confidence that it should be formalised in less than a month. Are properties in Merton Park particularly slow to register?
There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in Merton Park registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can adjust subject to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any third parties. At present in the region of three quarters of such applications are completed in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be protracted hold-ups. Historically registration is effected after the new owner is living at the property so 'speed' is not usually top priority yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
In searching the world wide web for the term conveyancing in Merton Park it reveals many property lawyersin the area. How do I determine which is the right property lawyer for the sale of my house?
The best method of finding the right conveyancer is via trusted referral, so ask colleagues and family who have bought a property in Merton Park or a reputable estate agent or mortgage broker. Costs for conveyancing in Merton Park vary, so it's advisable to obtain a minimum of three costs illustrations from different conveyancers. Make sure that you clarify what costs in the quote includes.
20 days into buying a house in Merton Park. Conveyancing solicitor has told us the title is "Leasehold". Will this likely impact our lender’s valuation?
Merton Park conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The key consideration here is the remaining lease term and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a peppercorn rent, it's virtually freehold, so it’s unlikely to affect the saleability too much.
At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, Sixty years it will have a material impact on the value, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The remaining lease term and ground rent will be stated in the lease which should be made available to your solicitor.