I am nearing exchange of contracts for my ground floor flat in Sutton Coldfield and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the buyers are appointing a new property lawyer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named lender only work with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Sutton Coldfield ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in recent years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for many years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
The Sutton Coldfield conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Sutton Coldfield have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Santander conveyancing panel and my family Sutton Coldfield lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to assist.
Is it correct that all Sutton Coldfield CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Skipton conveyancing list of approved practices?
Some major lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to join their panels.
Intending to buy a maisonette in Sutton Coldfield. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Barclays 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 Sutton Coldfield lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel.
I was told three weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Co-operative. Is it usual for Co-operative to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Sutton Coldfield is approved on their conveyancing panel? Co-operative have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule.
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Co-operative to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I'm buying a new build house in Sutton Coldfield with a mortgage from The Mortgage Works. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my lawyer about this side-deal as it could affect my loan with the bank. 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 UK Finance website. UK Finance 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.
How do I search for a Sutton Coldfield solicitor on the HSBC Bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 10miles to meet the solicitor.
You can use the facility on this website. Please pick a bank and your location and you will see a number of Sutton Coldfield conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have detailed some Sutton Coldfield conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can telephone them to see if they are on the HSBC Bank member panel
Two months into a sale of a flat in Sutton Coldfield. Conveyancing lawyers are doing their job but we have been asked to pay a fortune from the managing agents. To date we have paid £225 for a leasehold management pack and then another £117.20 for supplemental queries supplied by the purchaser's conveyancer.
You will not have any say over the level of the fee for this information but the typical costs for the information for Sutton Coldfield leasehold premises is £355. When it comes to Sutton Coldfield conveyancing deals it is standard for the seller to pay for these costs. The freeholder or their agents are not duty bound to address these questions although many will be content to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices disproportionate to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no statute that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any statutory time frame by which they are duty bound to provide answers.