I have just been advised by my financial adviser that my St Athan the law firm I have appointed is not on the lender Solicitor panel. What can I do to be sure that this is correct?
You need to call your St Athan conveyancer. You lawyer should inform you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the approved list of lawyers for your bank.
is it true that all St Athan conveyancing solicitors on the RBS conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the RBS approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I currently have a mortgage with Barclays for my property in St Athan. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Barclays?
Barclays must be informed of your intention before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Barclays will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Barclays directly. You need not do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel firm.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in St Athan. My mortgage broker suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A couple of days later, the solicitor contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Barclays panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
3 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in St Athan concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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.
How does conveyancing in St Athan differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in St Athan come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is built. This is because new home sellers in St Athan typically purchase the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in St Athan or who has acted in the same development.
I am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in St Athan I like with a park and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St Athan in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
What does commercial conveyancing in St Athan cover?
Non domestic conveyancing in St Athan covers a wide range of services, offered by regulated solicitors, relating to business property. For instance, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more usually, the transfer of existing leases or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial mortgages and the termination of leases.