I am buying an apartment in West Wickham. My property lawyer has never been on on the lender conveyancing panel. Is it possible for me to appoint my West Wickham conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
Your options include
- Carry on with your existing West Wickham conveyancing practitioner but your bank will undoubtedly appoint a solicitor on their approved list. This will result in additional cost together with likely delay.
- Appoint a fresh conveyancer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your lawyer to apply to join the lender panel
My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in West Wickham. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Virgin Money, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you intend to re-mortgage then Virgin Money will require that you use a conveyancer on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Virgin Money conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Virgin Money mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I can see plenty of here about conveyancing in West Wickham but can you isolate your top tip for appointing the right conveyancer in West Wickham
Do not opt for the lowest West Wickham 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 advance.
I have paid off my mortgage with TSB. I assume I don't need a West Wickham conveyancing practitioner 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 recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in West Wickham. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an on account payment of £225. Shortly after, the solicitor contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the HSBC panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
The deeds to my house can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in West Wickham 10 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?
You no longer need to have the physical original deeds to evidence that you are the registered proprietor of land or property, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. West Wickham is where the house is located. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in West Wickham are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in West Wickham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in West Wickham may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
I am purchasing a flat with all finances in place. My conveyancer has been given with 2 distinct forms of photo identification, bank statement, numerous utility bills. Now he wants a copy from a probate lawyer acknowledging that the funds are in place and that it has come from inheritance and not via illegitimate means.
For some years now requires conveyancing solicitors as well as banks, building societies and other financial institutes to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of the client. This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their clients can be used by criminals wishing to launder money. In order to comply with the law of money laundering, your West Wickham conveyancing lawyer will need to obtain evidence of your identity as as well as make sure that your funds are legitimate.