Me and my fiance are buying a flat in Swansea East. My property lawyer is not listed on the lender approved panel. Am I still permitted to use my Swansea East conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company panel?
You will need to have a conveyancing practitioner to complete the legal work required when you need a loan to purchase your property. They will carry out all the necessary investigations on the property, ensuring that you’re properly registered as the owner and ensure that all the necessary mortgage documentation is dealt with. You can appoint a Swansea East conveyancing practitioner of your choosing. Nevertheless, where the property lawyer appointed is not a member of the bank solicitor panel further charges will arise as separate legal representation will be need by the bank. Lender panel applications may be submitted, so where your solicitor has not in the past applied for membership they should take the chance to apply.
I am buying a house without a mortgage in Swansea East. I have resided for the last dozen years in Swansea East. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I have knowledge of the area and road intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?
In the absence of a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Swansea East conveyancing searches are non-obligatory. Your solicitor will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are intend to sell the house one day, it will likely be be of interest to your prospective buyer what the searches reveal. Sometimes properties with day to day issues can still reveal unfavourable search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Swansea East will be able to give you some helpful advice concerning this.
I have a decision in principle. The bank mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Does this mean I have to appoint their panel lawyer as I would prefer to use a specialised conveyancing solicitor in Swansea East?
You should check but the chances are that allocate you one of their panel lawyers where you take up the "fee-free" offer. Speak to the lender to explore if they allow a cash alternative. Some banks have previously offered a £250 cashback as a further option in which case that money can go towards your preferred conveyancing solicitor near Swansea East.
is it true that all Swansea East solicitor practices on the HSBC conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the HSBC approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
We are getting the release of further funds on our mortgage from Principality as we want to carry out alterations to our house in Swansea East. Do we need to select a high street Swansea East solicitor on the Principality conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Principality do not ordinarily require a member of their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Principality list.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Swansea East. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Shortly after, the solicitor called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the UBS 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 UBS 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in Swansea East I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Swansea East in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage that many years will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Am I better off to instruct a Swansea East conveyancing solicitor based in the location that I am purchasing? We have a good friend who can carry out the legal work but they are based 200kilometers drive away.
The benefit of a high street Swansea East conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, hand in your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a plus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust instructed your friend and the majority were content that must trump using an unknown Swansea East conveyancing solicitor just because they are local.