Me and my partner are purchasing a 2 bedroom flat in Stanwell with a mortgage. We have a Stanwell solicitor, but the lender says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel solicitors or keep our Stanwell lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This seems very unfair; are we not able to require that the lender use our Stanwell property lawyer ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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 Stanwell conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our maisonette in Stanwell with Nottingham. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Nottingham conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Nottingham. This is solely used to protect Nottingham if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Nottingham had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
My husband and I are in the throws of looking at apartments in Stanwell and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a conveyancing practitioner appointed at this point? I am planning to take a mortgage with UBS.
It would be wise to commence your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the EA. Given that you are seeking a mortgage with UBS, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the UBS conveyancing panel.
I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Stanwell. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner called me to say 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.
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Stanwell solicitor - who is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Kent Reliance will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Kent Reliance will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Stanwell surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I am downsizing from our property in Stanwell and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. A high street Stanwell conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers instructed a nationwide conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Stanwell. We have lived in Stanwell for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You should enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I am buying my first flat in Stanwell benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not to tell my lawyer about this deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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 property I have offered on last month in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Stanwell is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Stanwell are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Stanwell you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Stanwell 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.