My Durham solicitor has identified an inconsistency when comparing the information in the valuation survey and what is in the legal papers for the property. My solicitor has advised that he is duty bound to ensure that the lender is happy with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my lawyer’s approach right?
Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Durham last December yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours complaining that his conveyancer needs to hear from mylawyer. What should have happened following completion?
After completion of your sale your solicitor should forward the transfer deeds and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. If applicable, your conveyancer should also send confirmation that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been redeemed to the buyers lawyers. There is unlikely to be post completion tasks peculiar conveyancing in Durham.
My fiance and I decided to purchase a purpose built flat in Durham with a loan from Skipton Building Society.We like our Durham conveyancing practitioner but Skipton Building Society says his firm is not on their approved list of member firms. It seems we have little choice but to instruct a Skipton Building Society panel lawyer or keep our local solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The loan issued to you contains various provisions, one of which will be that lawyers will be on the Skipton Building Society solicitor panel. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Skipton Building Society
I am the single beneficiary of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Durham. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in November. I plan to dispose of the property. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in November. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be affected by that. Some mortgage companies would take a pragmatic view as this clause primarily exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
Are all Durham Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing list of approved solicitors?
It is true that some lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Durham. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their solicitor. I paid an on account payment of £150. Shortly after, the property lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.
I'm converting the mortgage on my current house to a buy to let mortgage with Barclays Direct and intend to use the remaining equity as a down payment on a second house. The neighborhood we are talking about is Durham. Will your conveyancers be able to act for the two banks and link together the two deals?
Make use of our search tool on this page to be sure that the conveyancers are on the relevant lender panels. Assuming that they are the solicitor will be able to simultaneously deal with the two deals but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make apparent your desired outcome and needs.