I am six weeks into the sale of my maisonette in St Clears and the EA has just text me to advise that the purchasers are swapping solicitor. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only deal with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named lender only engage with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in St Clears ?
UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for many years.
Mortgage companies blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices 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 unlikely to have any impact on this.
Our god-son is buying a house that has just been built in St Clears with a mortgage from Skipton. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Skipton conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Skipton conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
The deeds to my property can not be found. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in St Clears 10 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?
As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be held by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and order up to date copies of the property title for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases retain a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for a small fee.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one near me in St Clears I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St Clears suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
My uncle has recommend that I use his conveyancers in St Clears. Should I use them?
There are no two ways about it the ideal way to choose a conveyancing practitioner is to get feedback from friends or relatives who have actually used the firm you're are thinking of instructing.
How does one as executor remove a departed person's details from the title deeds for a house in St Clears?
Where a St Clears property is jointly owned and one of the owners passes away, the name will not immediately be removed from the Land Registry title. It is not necessary to remove their name as in the event of a disposal you would simply need to supply proof as to the reason the co proprietor is not a party to the contract, such as a grant of probate.
With the aim of making the sale conveyancing smoother in the future you can apply to have the deceased person erased from the title register by submitting an application to the land registry with evidence of the death. There is no fee from the Registry for this service.