I am progressing with the sale of my ground floor flat in Pound Hill and the EA has just called to warn that the buyers are appointing a new property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only deal with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a major lender only engage with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Pound Hill ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for decades.
Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
In the event thatI were to acquire a simple residential propertyin Pound Hill for cash and dispense with a survey and no local authority searches how much should I expect to to save on my conveyancing in Pound Hill?
The only reduction in fees you would make on is the Pound Hill conveyancing searches. Your property lawyer still got to do everything else - money laundering, correspond with the sellers conveyancer, stamp duty submission, register the property etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a charge however it will not be a lot.
My colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in Pound Hill I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Pound Hill conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Pound Hill around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Pound Hill.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Pound Hill with a loan from Virgin Money. The builders would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my lawyer about the side-deal as it would affect my loan 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.
In my capacity as executor for the estate of my grandfather I am disposing of a property in Swansea but reside in Pound Hill. My conveyancer (who is 250 miles awayneeds me to sign a stat dec ahead of completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing practitioner in Pound Hill who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you should not be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or qualified solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are based in Pound Hill
I acquired a house in Pound Hill last 7/5/2024 and to date it is still not recorded with the Land Registry. It is part of a development site and my lawyer told me that it may take one year to complete the registration formalities. I have spoken with HMLR directly and they say that the initial application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Do I need to be concerned?
It is your property lawyer that you must turn to here in order to satisfy any issues which have been raised as part of the registration process for your Pound Hill property. Normal Pound Hill conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's property lawyer that they will help resolve any requirements raised by HMLR so it may be a case of seeking to enforce that undertaking in some way.