My husband and I are looking to acquire a house in Lydney and have instructed a Lydney conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Aldermore have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Lydney conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Lydney solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Lydney? Is this really warranted?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to check the identification documents of the potential client they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing instruction. The Terms and Conditions that you are required to sign should stipulate this. Your lender will also require certain documents to be viewed. Should you are unwilling to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you.
we are a couple who are buying a purpose built flat in Lydney with a loan from Bank of Scotland.We have a Lydney conveyancing lawyer but Bank of Scotland advised that he's not listed on their "panel". We have to appoint a Bank of Scotland panel solicitor or retain our high street solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Bank of Scotland use our lawyer?
No, not really. The home loan issued to you is subject to its various provisions, a common one being that solicitors needs to be on the Bank of Scotland approved list. in the past, 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 solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Bank of Scotland
My relative recommended that if I am buying in Lydney I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Lydney conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Lydney around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Lydney Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Lydney.
I'm buying my first flat in Lydney with a mortgage from TSB. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not inform my conveyancer about this side-deal as it may put at risk my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.