I am in the process of selling my flat in Southfields and the EA has just text me to advise that the purchasers are appointing a new property lawyer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only engage with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named lender only work with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Southfields ?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.
Lenders blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. 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. Plenty of firms 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 buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our apartment in Southfields with Virgin Money. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Virgin Money conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money. This is solely used to protect Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
How up to date is your database of Southfields solicitors on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel? Do Coventry BS send you an updated list?
Southfields conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Coventry BS directly.
A colleague advised me that where I am buying in Southfields I should 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 Southfields conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Southfields around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Southfields Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Southfields.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home are lost. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in Southfields 4 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
In today’s world there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your solicitor should know precisely where to look for all the relevant paperwork so you can purchase or dispose of your property without any difficulty. Where copies are not available, your solicitor may be able to put in place insurance or indemnities against future claims on your premises.
I opted to have a survey done on a property in Southfields in advance of retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to grant a mortgage on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Southfields. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Southfields to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.