I am six weeks into the sale of my home in Burbage and the estate agent has just called to say that the buyers are switching law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only engage with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Burbage ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in recent years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lending institutions justify this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
I am under pressure from the executor of a property in Burbage to sign contracts within four weeks. What can I do to speed up matters?
Where the seller is applying time constraints to sign contracts it is highly recommended that your lawyer is familiar with the area as they will make use of local contacts and insight. It is possible that they could have conducted otherhouses in the same road. Therefore consider using a Burbage conveyancing lawyer. In addition, ensure that the lawyer is on the on the approved list for your mortgage company. It is claimed that nearly one in five of Burbage conveyancing transactions are suspended or derailed after discovering a buyer’s conveyancer was not on their mortgage lender’s member panel. This can often result in the home move being delayed by an average of three weeks. It is claimed that this issue impacts in the region of 100,000 home moves every year. Many Burbage conveyancing practices can not represent certain lenders so do check as early as possible.
My lawyer in Burbage has never been on on the TSB Conveyancing Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the TSB panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Burbage solicitors but TSB will need to use a conveyancer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees and cause frustration.
- Find an alternative practitioner to to deal with the conveyancing, not forgetting to check they are on the TSB panel
I used Arc property Solicitors several years past for my conveyancing in Burbage. Now, I need my documents but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Burbage of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I'm buying a new build house in Burbage with a mortgage from Nationwide Building Society. The builders refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not reveal to my lawyer about the side-deal as it would jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.