My husband and I are purchasing a brand new apartment in Kempston and my solicitor is advising me that she is duty bound to the bank to disclose incentives from the builder. I am on a tight deadline to exchange contracts and I have no desire to delay deal. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Kempston for our house purchase. Our broker has since advised us that our mortgage lenders Barclays Direct won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
Mortgage Companies tend to restrict either the category or the amount of conveyancing firms on their panel. A common example of such criteria being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. In addition to restricting the profile of firm, some have limited the number of firms they allow to represent them. You should note that Barclays Direct have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Barclays Direct Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of solicitor panels a few years ago even though there are mixed views about the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Figures from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms, including some in or near Kempston only carry out very few conveyances per annum.
Do I find a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Kempston?
There are many registered licenced Conveyancers in Kempston and Solicitor practices in Kempston who provide Conveyancing services It is important to make clear that both are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal aspects of the home buying process. Both can conduct other property legal work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
I am aiming to move property in June. Should my conveyancing solicitor liaise with the removal company on the completion day. On a separate note, can you recommend a removal company in Kempston. Conveyancing lawyer was chosen before I stumbled across your website.
On the afternoon of completion you can collect the house keys from your selling agent but this should only happen when the vendors conveyancers confirm to the agent that they have the completion monies and the keys can be released. After that you will need to advise the removal men that they can start moving you in. We are not in a position to recommend a specific removal company but can help you choose a residential property solicitor in Kempston or a legal practice that specialises in conveyancing in Kempston.
We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers locally in Kempston on the UBS solicitor approved list. They have just billed me an additional fee for handling the UBS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by UBS?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your property lawyer may levy a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by UBS but by your Kempston property lawyer. Plenty of firms on the UBS panel will levy an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some firms include it on their overall fee.
How does conveyancing in Kempston differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Kempston contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is built. This is because new home sellers in Kempston tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Kempston or who has acted in the same development.
I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the lender conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the mortgage company approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the bank conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.