My wife and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Perranporth and have instructed a Perranporth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Perranporth solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers 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 bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Perranporth 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.
Is it possible for conveyancing in Perranporth to be completed in two weeks?
In the event that the seller is applying time constraints for your conveyancing it is highly recommended that your solicitor is familiar with the area as they will have local contacts and insight. It is possible that they may have conducted otherhomes in the same street. Therefore consider using a Perranporth conveyancing firm. In addition, make sure that the lawyer is on the on the approved list for your mortgage company. It is claimed that just under twenty per cent of Perranporth conveyancing transactions are delayed or derailed after finding out that a purchaser’s solicitor was not on their mortgage lender’s list of approved solicitors. This can often result in the transaction being delayed by an average of three weeks. It is understood that this issue impacts in the region of 100,000 home sales every year. Almost all Perranporth conveyancing firms can not act for certain lenders so do check at the outset.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Perranporth? Why is this being asked of me?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering regulations require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to check the identification documents of the potential client they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing retainer. The Client Care letter that you need to sign should stipulate this. Your lender will also require certain documents to be viewed. If you refuse to hand over identification documents, your solicitor would not be able to accept instructions from you.
When it comes to lenders such as RBS, do Perranporth solicitors face an annual charge to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are not aware of any bank fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
We had appointed conveyancing lawyers based in Perranporth on the RBS solicitor panel. They have just billed me a separate sum for the legal aspects of the RBS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by RBS?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner is entitled to levy a fee for this. This fee is not set by RBS but by your Perranporth lawyer. Numerous firms on the RBS panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Perranporth. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Shortly after, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Santander 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 Santander 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 used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in Perranporth. I now require my file but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Perranporth of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Perranporth. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have recently received a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice as normal given that all ground rent and service invoices will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I invested in buying a 1 bedroom flat in Perranporth, conveyancing formalities finalised 10 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent flats in Perranporth with a long lease are worth £180,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2083
With 58 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £22,800 and £26,400 as well as professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.