My fiance and I are looking to purchase a property in Swansea City and have instructed a Swansea City conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Swansea City lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Swansea City lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am the single beneficiary of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Swansea City. The Swansea City property was put into my name in December. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in December. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be affected by that. Most mortgage companies would take a pragmatic view as this requirement is primarily there to identify subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Swansea City off the council. I have a mortgage offer with Barclays. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Barclays, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel.
I currently have a mortgage with Lloyds for my property in Swansea City. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Lloyds?
Your original mortgage agreement with Lloyds will provide that you need their approval in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Lloyds’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Lloyds will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Lloyds directly. You need not do this via a Lloyds conveyancing panel lawyer.
Should my lawyer be raising questions concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Swansea City.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors specialising in conveyancing in Swansea City. There are those who buy a house in Swansea City, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical damage, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Conveyancers are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that can be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which can give them a better understanding of the risks in Swansea City. The standard property information forms supplied to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual question of the owner to find out if the premises has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer could bring a compensation claim stemming from an incorrect response. A buyer’s conveyancers should also conduct an enviro search. This should reveal if there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be made.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Swansea City?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Swansea City. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am purchasing my first flat in Swansea City with a mortgage from Santander. The sellers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my lawyer about the deal as it would jeopardize my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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.
Hoping to buy a property located in Swansea City and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Swansea City. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Swansea City area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Swansea City. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found