My husband and I are hoping to acquire a property in Penkridge and are in fact using a Penkridge conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin Money have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Penkridge conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Penkridge solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My husband and I are nearing an exchange on a flat in Penkridge and my parents have sent the 10% deposit to my property lawyer. I am now told that as the deposit has not come from me my property lawyer needs to disclose this to my mortgage company. Apparently, in also acting for the bank he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is not just from me. I advised the bank regarding my parents' contribution when I applied for the mortgage, so is it really necessary for him to raise this?
Your conveyancing practitioner is legally required to check with lender to ensure that they know that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own funds. The solicitor can only report this to your mortgage company if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
My aunt advised me that in purchasing a property in Penkridge there could be a number of restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external alterations to a property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Penkridge which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Penkridge should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
We had appointed solicitors located in Penkridge on the UBS solicitor panel. They have just billed me a separate amount for the legal aspects of the UBS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by UBS?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner can levy a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by UBS but by your Penkridge conveyancing practitioner. Plenty of firms on the UBS panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but many practices incorporate it on their overall fee.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Penkridge. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
A relative recommended that if I am purchasing in Penkridge 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 Penkridge conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Penkridge around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Penkridge Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Penkridge.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Penkridge?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Penkridge. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’