My wife and I are buying a 1 bedroom apartment in St Neots with a mortgage. We like our St Neots lawyer, however the bank says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel firms or retain our St Neots property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We regard this is unjust; are we not able to demand that the mortgage company use our St Neots property lawyer ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your St Neots conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Can the conveyancing solicitors indexed on your site perform right to buy conveyancing in St Neots?
We do have plenty of conveyancing lawyers who can handle right to buy conveyancing You should get in touch with the lawyers listed to secure a conveyancing quote.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in St Neots is more expensive?
St Neots leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in St Neots for our house purchase. Our broker has since advised us that our bank Platform Home Loans Ltd won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
Banks in the main imposes restrictions either the type or the amount of conveyancing solicitors on their member panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have limited the amount of firms they permit to act for them. You should note that Platform Home Loans Ltd have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Platform Home Loans Ltd Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a primary driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels since 2008 even though there remains differing views about the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that hundreds of law firms, including some in or near St Neots only conduct very few conveyances per annum.
I am helping my niece sell her flat in St Neots. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission the energy performance certificate or should I organise this?
Following the demise of Home Packs, energy assessments was left as a compulsory component of moving property. An energy performance certificate must be commissioned before the property is placed on the market. It is not a task that conveyancers ordinarily arrange. Where you are using a St Neots conveyancing solicitor they may be willing to arrange EPC’s given their contacts with long established local accredited person
Can you help - my lawyer advises that lack of planning permission insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in St Neots?
The appropriate level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Barclays and Leeds Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
Intending to buy a apartment in St Neots. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the HSBC conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the St Neots solicitor is on the HSBC conveyancing panel.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in St Neots. Now, I need the files but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in St Neots of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.