We are hoping to buy a purpose built flat in South London with a residential mortgage from Halifax.We use our South London conveyancing lawyer but Halifax advised that he's not listed on their "panel". we are left little option but to use a Halifax panel solicitor or keep our preferred solicitor and pay for a Halifax panel lawyer to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The home loan offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, a common one being that lawyers needs to be on the Halifax conveyancing panel. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Halifax
We are purchasing a flat in South London. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we will need to deposit funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
My partner and I have arranged the release of further monies on our home loan from Skipton as we intend to conduct a loft conversion to our home in South London. Do we need to select a nearby South London solicitor on the Skipton conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Skipton do not ordinarily require a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Skipton conveyancing panel.
Nottingham have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a property in South London has been agreed to, now what?
The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (be sure the solicitors are on the lender’s panel). Contact Nottingham or your broker and finish off any appropriate forms. Nottingham will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or seller to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight to receive the mortgage offer. Nottingham will issue the offer to you and your solicitors. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in South London.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in South London?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in South London. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I'm buying a new build house in South London with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my lawyer about this deal as it would jeopardize my loan with Aldermore. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
I was pointed in your direction by a couple of local property agents in South London to find a conveyancer on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to offer your services over another?
We refuse to offer any commission for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
As co-executor for the estate of my father I am disposing of a property in Swansea but reside in South London. My lawyer (who is 200 miles from mehas requested that I sign a stat dec prior to completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in South London to attest and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or qualified solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are South London based