My wife and I are planning to purchase a house in New Forest and have appointed a New Forest conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Aldermore have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our New Forest lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
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 mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own New Forest solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Me and my partner are due to complete buying a house in New Forest but as a result of wreckage from the recent storms I have managed to agree reparation from the current proprietors of £2k taking the form of a reduction in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of the conveyancing process but TSB are not allowing this. Why were they informed?
The solicitor that is on the TSB approved list is duty bound to disclose to TSB of any amendments to the sale price. If you were to refuse your solicitor to notify the reduction to TSB then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, TSB and you would have to appoint a new lawyer for your conveyancing in New Forest.
It is a dozen years since I acquired my property in New Forest. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate my title documents. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be with the lender or they could be in the possession of the lawyers who handled the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in New Forest relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more problematic but is resolvable.
Should my solicitor be raising enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in New Forest.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in New Forest. There are those who buy a property in New Forest, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that can be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in New Forest. The standard property information forms given to a buyer’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a standard question of the owner to determine whether the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that flooding has previously occurred which is not notified by the owner, then a buyer could issue a legal claim for losses as a result of such an incorrect reply. The buyer’s lawyers may also carry out an enviro search. This will indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be carried out.
I'm purchasing a new build house in New Forest benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 opted to have a survey carried out on a property in New Forest prior to retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks may refuse to grant a loan on a flying freehold house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you call us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in New Forest. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in New Forest to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.