Why do I have to pay up front when it comes to conveyancing in Fishponds?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Fishponds your lawyer will ask you put them with monies to cover the search fees. Normally this is needed to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is payable against the sale price then this should be needed immediately prior to contracts are exchanged. The final balance that is due should be transferred a couple of days ahead of the day of completion.
We previously chose conveyancing lawyers based in Fishponds on the Nationwide solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional amount for dealing with the Nationwide mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Nationwide?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your solicitor may levy a fee for this. This fee is not dictated by Nationwide but by your Fishponds property lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Nationwide panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I am buying a property in Fishponds. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. RBS have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is RBS your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions contained in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for RBS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook sets out minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to RBS where a lease fails to satisfy these specifications. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Fishponds.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Fishponds. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £175. Shortly after, the lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the RBS 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 RBS 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.
Various web forums that I have come across warn that are a common reason for hinderance in Fishponds conveyancing transactions. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Fishponds.
I have todayfound out that Stirling Law have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Fishponds for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I establish that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to see if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out 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 Fishponds conveyancing specialists.
I purchased a flat in Fishponds last 21/1/2020 and to date it is still not recorded with HM Land Registry. It was part of a development site and my solicitor told me that it can take 12 months to complete the registration formalities. I have contacted the Land Registry directly and they say that the original application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Do I need to be concerned?
It is your conveyancing practitioner that you really need to turn to here in order to satisfy any concerns which have been raised as part of the registration process for your Fishponds property. Normal Fishponds conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the vendor’s solicitor that they will help resolve any registration raised by HMLR so it may be a case of taking action to enforce that undertaking if necessary.