My husband and I are looking to acquire a house in Wandsworth and have instructed a Wandsworth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nottingham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Wandsworth solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Wandsworth solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am the registered owner of a freehold premises in Wandsworth yet charged rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Wandsworth and has limited impact for conveyancing in Wandsworth but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for many centuries, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the generation of new rentcharges from 1977 onwards.
Old rentcharges can now be extinguished by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 is to be extinguished.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Wandsworth. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
Planning on purchasing a house in Wandsworth. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Nationwide 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 Wandsworth conveyancing practitioner is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.
Our offer on a detached house in Wandsworth has been accepted, but there is a chain. The owners have placed an offer on somewhere, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a high street conveyancing solicitor in Wandsworth. What should be my next step? At what point should I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then valuation, Wandsworth conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to check that your property lawyer is on the Barclays approved list. Concerning the subsequent stages this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your transaction, attraction to the property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market some buyers would apply for the mortgage with Barclays and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their property lawyer to move forward with searches.
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of hinderance in Wandsworth conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Wandsworth.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Wandsworth I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Wandsworth in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my grandfather I am selling a property in Monmouth but I am based in Wandsworth. My conveyancer (approximately 250 miles from merequires that I sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing solicitor in Wandsworth to witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you should not be required to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Wandsworth