How up to date is your search tool for St Albans conveyancing solicitors on the Nationwide conveyancing panel? Do Nationwide send you an updated list?
St Albans conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Nationwide directly.
The St Albans conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my house acquisition in St Albans have suddenly closed. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous St Albans lawyer was not. I cut them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.
three months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in St Albans completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 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 property 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.
I'm buying a new build house in St Albans benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about this deal as it may affect my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a quick, chain free conveyancing. St Albans is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in St Albans are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Albans you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Albans may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Am I best advised to use a St Albans conveyancing solicitor in close proximity to the house I am buying? An old friend can handle the conveyancing however they are based 300miles away.
The primary upside of using a local St Albans conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to sign documents, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. Having local St Albans know how is a plus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust instructed your friend and the majority were content that must surpass using an unknown St Albans conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.