I am progressing with the sale of my maisonette in Tyne And Wear and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the purchasers are swapping solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only deal with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a major lender only work with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Tyne And Wear ?
UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 25 years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
Are the Tyne And Wear conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Nationwide conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Nationwide?
Tyne And Wear conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Nationwide directly.
There is lots of here about conveyancing in Tyne And Wear but can you isolate your top tip for appointing the right conveyancer in Tyne And Wear
We would encourage you not to base your choice on the cheapest Tyne And Wear conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
This question may be naive but I am unexperienced as FTB of a garden flat in Tyne And Wear. Do I receive the keys to the property on completion from my conveyancer? If so, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Tyne And Wear?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the vendor’s conveyancers, and once they have received this, you will be able to pick up the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
We are purchasing a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Tyne And Wear. We would like to carry out a loft conversion at the house.Will legal work on the property include checks to ascertain if these alterations are prohibited?
Your conveyancer will review the registered title as conveyancing in Tyne And Wear will occasionally identify restrictions in the title deeds which prevent categories of alterations or necessitated the consent of another owner. Certain additions require local authority planning permissions and approval under the building regulations. Many locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. It would be sensible to check these issues with a surveyor before you commit yourself to a purchase.
My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Victorian house in Tyne And Wear. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Skipton Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Tyne And Wear and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who carried out the work.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Tyne And Wear I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Tyne And Wear for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you require a home loan that many years will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
At what stage do I pay stamp duty due for my Tyne And Wear property purchase?
The conveyancing practitioner should fill out a stamp duty return on your behalf as part of your Tyne And Wear conveyancing transaction for signature. After completion your lawyer will submit your STL Return Form to the Inland Revenue and - as long as they have the funds - settle any land tax liability for you.