My husband and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Sawtry with Aldermore. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Aldermore. This is solely used to protect Aldermore if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Aldermore had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
We note that you have a search directory identifying law firms on the TSB conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Sawtry?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the TSB conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Sawtry.
Please explain the implications if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Clydesdale Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Sawtry?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
is it true that all Sawtry solicitors on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Coventry BS approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. The majority of mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the firms would be regulated by the CLC.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Sawtry. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Sawtry conveyancer having checked that they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Sawtry postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Lloyds, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Sawtry.
What will a local search inform me concerning the property my wife and I purchasing in Sawtry?
Sawtry conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for instance Searchflow The local search is essential in every Sawtry conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic headings.
It has been three months since my purchase conveyancing in Sawtry took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.