My best friend’s mother is a conveyancing practitioner. I am hopeful that I will be offered mate’s fee for conveyancing, but if not, what level of costs should I be paying for conveyancing in Old Malden?
You should contrast pricing. Make use of our search tool on this page. The charges seem to contrast greatly but service levels do are distinct between solicitors as is true with most professions.
Our solicitor has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Old Malden. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our conveyancing practitioner has advised that he must check that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the lender?
Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their specifications for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. You and the bank are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Old Malden. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Nationwide be concerned?
Given that your lender is Nationwide your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions contained in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Nationwide. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to Nationwide where a lease does not comply with these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not restricted to Old Malden.
My wife and I are in the process of viewing apartments in Old Malden and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a solicitor appointed at this point? I am planning to take a mortgage with Co-operative.
You should start obtaining conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are seeking a mortgage with Co-operative, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel.
It is not clear whether my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Old Malden building society branch on a couple of occasions and was told it does not affect the mortgage offer and they would lend. My Old Malden conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend based on their specific requirements. I have no idea who is right.
Provided that the property lawyer is on the bank panel, she or he must follow the CML Handbook requirements for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Old Malden?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Old Malden. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Is it best to choose a Old Malden conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? An old friend can execute the legal formalities however his firm is located approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The benefit of a high street Old Malden conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to execute documents, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Old Malden know how is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who instructed your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unknown Old Malden conveyancing solicitor just because they are round the corner.
My wife and I are buying a studio flat in Old Malden. At the point of instructing our lawyer, they told us that they were on all major UK bank panels. The mortgage broker emailed yesterday to say that they don't seem to be on the Barclays approved list. Were it to be true, what should we do? Do we simply pick a different conveyancer that is on their approved list or do we pay for dual representation, with Barclays selecting their own approved conveyancing practitioner.
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchaser’s lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the property lawyer has to satisfy. Some lenders now insist their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should call Barclays to discover 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 don't have to instruct a firm on Barclays's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Old Malden lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.