It has come to my attention via my mortgage adviser that my St Helens lawyer is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. What can I do to be certain if this is indeed the case?
The best course of action for you to take is to call your St Helens conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to notify you what has happened. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the approved list of lawyers for your lender.
Do the conveyancing lawyers identified via your search tool conduct auction conveyancing in St Helens?
There are a number of niche lawyers we can put you in touch with those specialising in auction conveyancing. St Helens is one of our areas of where our lawyers cover.
My grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in St Helens. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Coventry BS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you intend to refinance then Coventry BS will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Coventry BS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Coventry BS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Is it the case that all St Helens solicitor practices on the RBS conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the RBS conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the practice would be regulated by the CLC.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in St Helens. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in St Helens. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £200. Not long after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £305k and identified one near me in St Helens I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in St Helens in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
I happen to be an executor of my recently deceased mother’s Will, with a house in St Helens which is to be marketed. The bungalow is unregistered at HMLR and I'm advised that many buyers solicitors will insist that it is in place before they'll move forward. What's the mechanism for this?
In the circumstances you refer to it seems advisable to seek to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. HMLR’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.