I plan on purchasing property in Raunds. My Conveyancer has never been on on the mortgage company conveyancing list. Can I still use my Raunds conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the lender list of approved lawyers?
You have a couple of choices available to you here
- Complete the deal with your existing Raunds lawyer but your bank will need to use a lawyer on their conveyancing panel. The net result is additional charges and potential interruption.
- Appoint a fresh solicitor to act in the purchase, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to apply to join the mortgage company panel
It is a dozen years since I purchased my house in Raunds. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I can't locate the deeds. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be with your lender or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Raunds relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.
My uncle passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Raunds. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Principality, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you plan to re-mortgage then Principality will require that you use a conveyancer on the Principality conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Principality conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Principality mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
There are numerous conveyancing solicitors in Raunds but how do I know who's good?
Do not opt for the lowest Raunds conveyancing fees. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Nationwide, do Raunds solicitors have to pay an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any lender fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Raunds. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £175. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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'm purchasing my first flat in Raunds with a loan from Barclays Direct. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep advised me not to tell my solicitor about this side-deal as it will affect my loan with Barclays Direct. Is this normal?.
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.
Am in the process of purchasing my 1st property in Raunds. Conveyancing lawyer has been selected. The financial consultant pointed out that a survey is not appropriate as the property was only constructed 16 yrs ago.
At the very least you should have a Home Buyer's Report. As the property is more than ten years old the property will not benefit from a warranty, so you don't want to take a risk. Where a property of this age shows no signs of defects a Home Buyer's report may suffice. They will highlight any apparent problems and recommend further investigation where relevant. Where there are any indications of problems obtain a comprehensive structural survey.