My husband and I are purchasing a 3 bedroom flat in Childs Hill with a mortgage. We have a Childs Hill lawyer, however the mortgage company says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel solicitors or retain our Childs Hill conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This feels very unfair; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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. A further alternative is for your Childs Hill conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
The sellers of the home we are purchasing are using a conveyancing firm in Childs Hill who has insisted on a lock out agreement with a down payment 10k. Are such agreements sensible?
There are two primary drawbacks with entering into any lock out contract (occasionally referred to as a shut-out contract) is that it takes away the focus from moving forward with the conveyancing transaction itself, so in the absence of it needing limited or no negotiation then it may turn out to be a hindrance. It is not strongly advocated amongst Childs Hill conveyancing solicitors as a result. A supplemental issue is the extent of the remedies available - a jilted purchaser should not expect to obtain an injunction to prohibit the owner disposing of the property to an alternative purchaser, so the only remedy open via the contract will be the recovery of abortive costs and, in restricted circumstances, the extra payment of damages.
I'm the single recipient of my late grandmother’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Childs Hill. The Childs Hill property was put into my name in January. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship will be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the property in January. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be affected by that. Most mortgage companies would take a sensible view as this obligation chiefly exists to capture subsales or the quick reselling of properties.
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our home loan from UBS as we wish to carry out renovations to our home in Childs Hill. Are we obliged to choose a bricks and mortar Childs Hill solicitor on the UBS conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
UBS do not ordinarily instruct firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the UBS conveyancing panel.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Childs Hill. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £200. Soon after, the solicitor called me to say that they were not on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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.
A friend advised me that if I am buying in Childs Hill I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Childs Hill conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Childs Hill around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Childs Hill Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Childs Hill Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Childs Hill.
Have completed on a a terraced house in Childs Hill , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to deal with the formalities evidencing my ownership? My Childs Hill conveyancing solicitor works at snail pace, so I want to be certain that my ownership is registered.
There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in Childs Hill registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can differ depending on the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry communicate with any third persons or bodies. At present in the region of three quarters of submission are completed within two weeks but some can be subject to protracted delays. Registration occurs once the purchaser has moved in to the premises so 'speed' is not typically top priority yet if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.