My wife and I are planning to purchase a property in Nantyglo and are in fact using a Nantyglo conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Nantyglo solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Nantyglo solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
The sellers of the house we are hoping to buy have appointed a conveyancing solicitor in Nantyglo who has recommended a exclusivity contract with a deposit two thousand pounds. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?
There are two primary concerns with executing a lock out contract (occasionally known as a no-shop agreement) is that it takes away the focus from moving forward with the conveyancing process, so unless it requires little or no negotiation then it may turn out to be a hindrance. It is not strongly advocated amongst Nantyglo conveyancing lawyers for this reason. A further concern is the extent of the remedies available - a jilted purchaser is not likely to win an injunctive ruling by a court to stop the vendor completing the sale to another buyer, so the only remedy available under the contract will be the reimbursement of wasted charges and, in restricted situations, the extra payment of penalties.
We note that you have a post code search directory listing solicitors on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for our conveyancing in Nantyglo?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Nantyglo.
My conveyancer has informed me that lack of planning permission insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Nantyglo conveyancing?
The appropriate level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between Barclays and Skipton Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Principality. I assume I don't need a Nantyglo property lawyer on the Principality panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Principality 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 Principality mortgage from the register. Principality, 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 Principality has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Principality has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The mortgage over my property is with UBS for my property in Nantyglo. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform UBS?
You must advise UBS in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of UBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that UBS will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact UBS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a UBS conveyancing panel firm.
I am buying a new build house in Nantyglo with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my lawyer about this deal as it would affect my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Nantyglo ahead of instructing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to issue a loan on a flying freehold house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further via the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Nantyglo. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Nantyglo to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.