My fiance and I are looking to acquire a property in Stamford and are in fact using a Stamford conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Halifax have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Stamford solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Stamford solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a searchable register to to identify law firms on the Loughborough BS conveyancing panel for example in Stamford?
We would not expect to be advised of any plans on the part of the BSA to develop such a register.
I am the only recipient of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Stamford. The Stamford property was put into my name in November. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship could be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the house in November. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be caught by that. many mortgage companies would take a practical view as this obligation is chiefly there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of property.
We were going to get a DIP from Nottingham this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Nottingham recommend any Stamford solicitors on the Nottingham conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?
You will need to appoint Stamford solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Nottingham through the process.
My sealed bid on a detached house in Stamford has been agreed to, but there is a chain. The sellers have put an offer on on an apartment, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in Stamford. What should be my next step? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Aldermore?
It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses too early (home loan application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, Stamford conveyancing search fees, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Aldermore approved list. As to the subsequent steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market some buyers will apply for the mortgage with Aldermore and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their conveyancing practitioner to proceed with the conveyancing in Stamford.
I decided to have a survey carried out on a house in Stamford ahead of retaining lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may refuse to issue a loan on this type of house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Stamford. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Stamford to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
How do I identify a Stamford law firm on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am happy to travel upto 20miles to meet the conveyancer.
You can use the search on this website. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Stamford conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have detailed some Stamford conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can ring them to verify whether they are on the Virgin Money member panel
My partner and I may need to rent out our Stamford ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Stamford conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Stamford conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Stamford - A selection of Queries Prior to buying
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Many Stamford leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the landlord. Where you buy the property you will have to meet this charge, normally quarterly accross the year. This may be anything from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, ordinarily this is not a large figure, say about £50-£100 but you need to check it because sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive. This question is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where repairs are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to have all the details For most Stamford leaseholds the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Stamford ask tenants to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works.