Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as FTB of a ground floor flat in St Nicholas. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my conveyancer? If so, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in St Nicholas?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the completion advance to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be called to pick up the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in St Nicholas. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £175. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
I am selling my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in September 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, Clydesdale are being a right pain. The St Nicholas solicitor who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Clydesdale are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Clydesdale have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Clydesdale have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Clydesdale may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I have been told that property searches are the main cause of delay in St Nicholas conveyancing transactions. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the common causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in St Nicholas.
My wife and I own a semi-detached Georgian property in St Nicholas. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Barclays Direct. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should assess 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 Nicholas 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 buyers. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.
I am purchasing my first flat in St Nicholas with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my conveyancer about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, chain free conveyancing. St Nicholas is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in St Nicholas are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Nicholas you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Nicholas may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
We have selected a St Nicholas conveyancing solicitor for our house purchase (first time buyers) and have spotted in the engagement letter that they are not governed by the FCA. Should I be worried or is that usually the case with property lawyer?
We can't see why they should be. Most conveyancer don't lend money. You should check that they are governed by the SRA, who set stringent obligations in relation to amounts deposited in their bank.