We are acquiring a brand new flat in Morecambe and my conveyancer is advising me that she is duty bound to the lender to reveal incentives from the builder. I am on a tight deadline to sign contracts and my preference is not to delay the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
When can the exchange of contracts occur in purchase conveyancing in Morecambe and am I required to be at the conveyancers branch?
Where you are local to our conveyancing solicitors in Morecambe you are welcome to come in to sign contracts. However, the firms we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the contract is not the critical part. A signed contract is necessary for the firm to address the formalities at the suitable time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is is usually a five minute process, although where an extended "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Morecambe)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
I am the only beneficiary of my late father’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Morecambe. The Morecambe property was put into my name in May. I plan to dispose of the property. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be treated the same way as though I had purchased the property in May. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be caught by that. How sensible a view banks take of it, depend on the lender as this clause primarily exists to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.
I have paid off my mortgage with Bank of Ireland. I assume I don't need a Morecambe solicitor on the Bank of Ireland panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland mortgage from the register. Bank of Ireland, 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 Bank of Ireland has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Bank of Ireland has instructed the Land Registry to do so
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Morecambe. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the conveyancer called me to say that they were not on the HSBC 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 HSBC 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 have recentlyfound out that Stirling Law have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Morecambe for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way to check if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Morecambe conveyancing specialists.
I am looking for a flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Morecambe I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Morecambe suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
My uncle has encouraged me to appoint his conveyancing solicitors in Morecambe. Should I choose my own solicitor?
No doubt the ideal way to choose a conveyancing lawyer is to seek referrals from friends or relatives who have actually experience in using the firm you're contemplating using.