Unfortunately I am unable to travel far from West Byfleet. Is there a reason why all West Byfleet lawyers aren't included on all lender panels?
Mortgage Companies normally impose restrictions on either the nature or volume of conveyancing practices on their panel. A common example of such criteria being that the practice is required to have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the nature of firm, some lenders decided to limit the size of their panel they use to act for them. You should note that banks have no liability for the accuracy of advice supplied by any West Byfleet property lawyer on their approved list. Property fraud was the key driver in the culling of conveyancing panels in the last decade notwithstanding that there are differing points of view about whether solicitors sat at the center of that fraud. Data via the Land Registry exposes that thousands of law firms only carry out less than three conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel consolidation question why law firms should have claim to remain on a lender panel when clearly conveyancing is not their speciality?
What happens if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Co-operative Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in West Byfleet?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my house can not be found. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in West Byfleet 5 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?
Nowadays there are copies made of almost everything, and your conveyancer will know exactly where to locate all the relevant documentation so you can purchase or sell your property without any difficulty. If copies are not available, your conveyancer can put in place insurance or indemnities protecting you against possible claims on your premises.
I'm purchasing a new build house in West Byfleet with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not reveal to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it may put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 was pointed in your direction by two or three local estate agents in West Byfleet to get a quote from a property lawyer on your site. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over a competitor’s?
We don’t give any referral fee for sending work to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
I have recently placed an offer on an apartment in West Byfleet and the broker that we are using suggested his conveyancing practitioner. She quoted £1000 including VAT and 3rd party costs. Does this sound expensive?
You should not rely on one quote. One should obtain like-for-like quotes for your conveyancing in West Byfleet. Then pick one that you are comfortable with and just as important, is on the approved list of the lender that you have applied for a mortgage from.