My husband and I are planning to acquire a 3 bedroom flat in Broadstairs with a mortgage. We like our Broadstairs lawyer, however the bank says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel firms or continue with our Broadstairs solicitor and pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not demand that the mortgage company use our Broadstairs conveyancer ?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Broadstairs conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Our son is in the process of securing a house that has just been built in Broadstairs with a mortgage from HSBC. His solicitor has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the HSBC conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
My relative recommended that if I am buying in Broadstairs I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Broadstairs conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Broadstairs around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Broadstairs Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Broadstairs.
I have recentlybecome aware that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Broadstairs for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I check that my home is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest way to see if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Broadstairs conveyancing specialists.
I was advised by a number of estate agents in Broadstairs to select a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to market your services over a competitor’s?
We don’t make any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.