I am in the process of selling my house in Sandwich and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are switching property lawyer. The reason given is that the mortgage company will only work with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a big named lender only engage with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Sandwich ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for over 25 years.
Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud as the reason 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 hearing daily from firms 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. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
In the event thatI were to buy a freehold propertyin Sandwich mortgage fee and dispense with a survey and no conveyancing searches how much would I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Sandwich?
The only saving you would make on is the costs for searches. The property lawyer still got to do everything else - money laundering, liaising with the sellers solicitor, SDLT submission, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a charge but it will not be a lot.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Sandwich? Is this really necessary?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing retainer. The Terms of Engagement that you need to sign will no doubt reaffirm this. Your lender will also require certain documents to be viewed. If you are unwilling to supply ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you.
My relative recommended that where I am buying in Sandwich I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Sandwich conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Sandwich around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Sandwich Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Sandwich Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Sandwich.
I was advised by numerous property agents in Sandwich to find a property lawyer on your site. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to promote your site over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any referral fee for directing people to this site. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
We have been told by numerous friends that it can take six to eight weeks for Sandwich conveyancing to complete.This was a month ago. The property information was only sent to my conveyancing practitioner a few days ago so does the clock start running now?
There is no definitive time frame for conveyancing in Sandwich. Conveyancing is subject to many variable. Sandwich conveyancing searches in and of themselves could take up to month to come back.