My wife and I are looking to buy a home in Tintern and are in fact using a Tintern conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Tintern solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Tintern solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We are purchasing a newbuild apartment in Tintern with a homeloan from Alliance & Leicester .We use our Tintern conveyancing practitioner but Alliance & Leicester informed us her practice is not on their approved list of member firms. We have to appoint a Alliance & Leicester panel lawyer or retain our preferred solicitor and pay for a Alliance & Leicester panel lawyer to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Alliance & Leicester use our lawyer?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage issued to you contains various provisions, one of which will be that solicitors needs to be on the Alliance & Leicester approved list. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Alliance & Leicester
Please help - my lawyer advises that breach of easement insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Tintern?
The right level of breach of easement indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Halifax and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to members of the public take out such insurances.
The mortgage over my property is with Clydesdale for my property in Tintern. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
You must advise Clydesdale prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel firm.
About to purchase apartment in Tintern. 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 RBS 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 Tintern solicitor is on the RBS conveyancing panel.
A colleague recommended that where I am buying in Tintern I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Tintern conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Tintern around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Tintern.
My husband and I are 3 weeks into a leasehold purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in Tintern. I am am extremely dissatisfied with the level of service. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
A conveyancer would need to be really bad to suggest diss instructing them. Has your mortgage offer been issued? If so you need to inform them of the replacement solicitor and get the offer are issued to the new lawyers. Your conveyancer should be on the banks panel to avoid supplemental charges and frustration. That should be your starting point. The find a solicitor tool will assist you in finding a bank approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Tintern
I work for a reputable estate agency in Tintern where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Tintern conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 2 bed flat in Tintern, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Tintern with a long lease are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2086
With 61 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £18,100 and £20,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.