My wife and I are looking to acquire a home in Alcester and have instructed a Alcester conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Birmingham Midshires have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Alcester solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Alcester lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
We see that you have a search directory identifying solicitors on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a commission if I instruct them for our conveyancing in Alcester?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Aldermore conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Alcester.
I'm purchasing a new build house in Alcester benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about the deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with Nationwide Building Society. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Alcester prior to appointing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor has said that some banks may refuse to give a mortgage on this type of premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Alcester. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
There are a number of properties in Alcester on private lanes. We are purchasing such a house. What would be the pros and cons of purchasing a house on a privately owned road?
Alcester conveyancing lawyers will be well versed in transacting homeson private. The conveyancer will review the title to find any rights or responsibilities. It is possible that there is a residents association that residents pay into to maintain the road. If one exists, the road will likely be maintained and appear better than publicly maintained.