My partner and I are looking to buy a house in Syston and have instructed a Syston conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Syston conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Syston solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Will lawyers ask for money up-front when it comes to conveyancing in Syston?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Syston your solicitor will request that you to provide them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is as part of the total price then this should be asked for shortly prior to contracts are exchanged. The closing balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer a couple of days ahead of the day of completion.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with TSB. I assume I don't need a Syston solicitor on the TSB panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your TSB mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the TSB mortgage from the register. TSB, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where TSB has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- TSB has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I have a mortgage with Virgin Money for my property in Syston. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Virgin Money?
You must advise Virgin Money before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Virgin Money’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies 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 Virgin Money directly. You need not do this via a Virgin Money conveyancing panel firm.
After what feels like an age I have had an offer on a maisonette in Syston accepted, the owners do however have a tied purchase. The owners have placed an offer on somewhere, but it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a high street conveyancing solicitor in Syston. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with Nationwide started?
It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Syston conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Concerning the subsequent phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. In a rising market the majority of purchasers would apply for a home loan with Nationwide and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their lawyer to press on with searches.
I have recentlybeen informed that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Syston for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I check that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way to check if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Syston conveyancing specialists.
I am buying my first flat in Syston with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires. The developers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it could impact my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in Syston where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Syston conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Syston, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Syston with an extended lease are worth £171,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2104
With just 79 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £7,600 and £8,800 as well as legals.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.