We are acquiring a brand new apartment in Rutland and my lawyer is telling me that she has to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the seller. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I don't want to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your solicitor. A precondition to being on a lender 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.
My wife and I are spending time viewing houses in Rutland and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a conveyancer appointed at this point? I will be getting a home loan with Yorkshire BS.
You should start obtaining conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Yorkshire BS, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Rutland. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. A couple of days later, the lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Barclays 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 Barclays 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 had an offer accepted on a house in Rutland on 14/11/2025, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to HSBC and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for HSBC to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the HSBC conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
My wife and I purchased a semi-detached Victorian house in Rutland. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Godiva Mortgages Ltd. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same property. Is it worth asking Godiva Mortgages Ltd to clarify?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Rutland and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Rutland with the aid of help to buy. The builders refused to budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep advised me not inform my solicitor about this extras as it will put at risk my mortgage with National Westminster Bank. 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.
Do I need to be suspicious by estate agents that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use an online conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Rutland conveyancing company?
As is the case with lots of professional services, often referrals from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are numerous parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, financial adviser and banks might all suggest lawyers to use. On occasion these conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there may be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You have the discretion to choose your own lawyer. Don't forget that some lenders specify a panel list of law firms you have to use for the mortgage aspect of your transaction.
I need to instruct a conveyancing lawyer in Rutland for my house move. Is there any facility to see a firm’s complaints history with the profession’s regulator?
Members of the public can find presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from inquisitions commenced on or after 1 January 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. For details Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors history, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA sometimes recorded call for training requirements.