I have just been advised by my lender that my Penyffordd property lawyer is not on the mortgage company Solicitor panel. What can I do to be certain if this is indeed the case?
The sensible course of action for you to take is to contact your Penyffordd conveyancer. You lawyer should inform you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the approved list of lawyers for your lender.
We are buying a new build flat in Penyffordd and my solicitor is telling me that she has to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the builder. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I don't want to prolong deal. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I am planning to move property in April. Should my conveyancing solicitor update the removal company on the day of completion. Incidentally, can you suggest a removal company in Penyffordd. Conveyancing lawyer was chosen before I stumbled across your site.
On the afternoon of completion you will need to collect the keys from your estate agent however this can only happen when the sellers solicitors inform the agent that the monies to complete are in and the keys can be passed over. You can tell the removal company that you are ready to move in. As a matter of policy we do not suggest a particular removal company but can assist you in choosing a conveyancing in Penyffordd or a firm with expertise in conveyancing in Penyffordd.
My wife and I have arranged the release of further funds on our mortgage from Yorkshire BS as we want to carry out renovations to our property in Penyffordd. Do we need to choose a local Penyffordd solicitor on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Yorkshire BS don't usually require firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel.
The mortgage over my property is with Barclays for my property in Penyffordd. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. If I am intending 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 Barclays?
Barclays must be informed of your intention before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let 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 Barclays directly. You need not do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel firm.
Will our conveyancer be asking questions concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Penyffordd.
Flooding is a growing risk for lawyers conducting conveyancing in Penyffordd. Some people will purchase a property in Penyffordd, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a number of checks that may be undertaken by the purchaser or by their lawyers which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in Penyffordd. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms supplied to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a standard inquiry of the owner to discover if the premises has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the owner, then a purchaser could bring a compensation claim resulting from an incorrect reply. The buyer’s lawyers may also conduct an environmental report. This will higlight if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, additional inquiries will need to be initiated.
I'm buying a new build house in Penyffordd benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my conveyancer about this side-deal as it may jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. 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.
I have been advised by three or four local estate agents in Penyffordd to select a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your site ahead of a competitor’s?
We refuse to give any financial incentive for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.