Am I correct in assuming that the fact that my conveyancer in St Helier is not identified on my lender's solicitor panel that there is a problem with the standard of his work?
It would not be wise to jump to that conclusion. There are all sorts of perfectly reasonable explanations. A recent report by the solicitors regulator revealed that over three quarters of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The most common reasons for removal are: (1) lack of transactions (2) the solicitor is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. If you are concerned you should contact the St Helier conveyancing practice and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for your bank.
At what point can the exchange of contracts happen for domestic conveyancing in St Helier and do I need to attend the conveyancers branch?
Where you are local to one of the conveyancing solicitors in St Helier you are invited in to sign the paperwork. That being said, the lender approved solicitors we work with offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and provide just as comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you electronically. The executing of the contract is not the critical part. Signing on the dotted line is just a prerequisite for the solicitor to officially exchange at the suitable time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where an extended "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in St Helier)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
I'm the only beneficiary of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in St Helier. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in January. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be considered the same way as if I'd bought the house in January. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be caught by that. Some mortgage companies would take a practical view as this provision is chiefly there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of property.
I recently had an offer agreed on a house in St Helier. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Not long after, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS 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.
My sealed bid on a semi in St Helier has been accepted, but there is a chain. The owners have placed an offer on a flat, however it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other apartments in the pipeline. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in St Helier. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Bank of Ireland started?
It is normal to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (mortgage application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, St Helier conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to check that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland approved list. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the uniqueness of your transaction, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a hot market the majority of purchasers would apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancer to proceed with the conveyancing in St Helier.
Me and my brother have a renovated Victorian house in St Helier. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. Is it worth asking Bank of Scotland to clarify?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in St Helier and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
I am purchasing a new build house in St Helier with a loan from Godiva Mortgages Ltd. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about this deal as it will adversely 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 was told by my lender that their panel solicitors operate no move no fee basis for conveyancing in St Helier. I had a purchase fall through nevertheless the conveyancers have invoiced for search fees! They say the fees are independent!
By promising "no sale no fee" St Helier conveyancing firms are writing off their charges for any work conducted. We should point out that this does not constitute an insurance scheme. Disbursements aren’t covered – where the conveyancer have to pay money out to other people, for example St Helier local search fees