I am getting a offer of a home loan from Nat West. My intention is to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Sipson. Does the Nat West Solicitor panel allow for conveyancers regulated by the CLC?
The Nat West approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
We have very brash vendors who has suggested a lock out agreement with a deposit of 5k. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?
Exclusivity contracts are agreements binding a home seller and purchaser granting the buyer a ‘clear field’ to the sale of the premises for a certain period of time. Essentially, an exclusivity is a document specifying that you should have a contract at a later date being the contract for the actual sale. It is generally used for buyer confidence though in many situations, the vendor may enjoy an upside from such agreements as well. There are various positives and negatives to having them but you should to check with your lawyer but beware that it may result in costing you more in conveyancing fees. In light of these reasons these contracts are unusual when it comes to conveyancing in Sipson.
A colleague pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Sipson there could be various restrictions preventing external alterations to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Sipson which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Sipson should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I have paid off my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Sipson solicitor on the Skipton panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Skipton mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Skipton mortgage from the register. Skipton, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Skipton has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Skipton has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Sipson solicitor - who is on the Skipton conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Skipton will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Skipton 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 Sipson postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Skipton, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Sipson.
four months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Sipson concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 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.
How straightforward is it to use your search app to locate a conveyancing solicitor in Sipson on the panel for my lender?
First choose a bank such as Barclays , Norwich and Peterborough Building Society or Godiva Mortgages Ltd then specify your location e.g. Sipson. Conveyancing firms in Sipson and further afield will then be listed.
My step-son is just in the process of moving home, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the seller agreed the offer on the house we contacted the mortgage company to issue the formal offer. We were shocked to discover that mortgage lenders do not accept all solicitor, they have to be on a list, is this correct?
Mortgage Companies tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Sipson lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.