We are a couple about to exchange contracts for a property in Sacriston. We encountered a snag. Our loan offer with The Mortgage Works expires on 1/12/2025 but the vendors are suggesting a completion date of 3/12/2025. Can one prolong the loan offer?

The best person to deal with your question is your conveyancer who will hopefully assess if they better off negotiating with the mortgage company, seller’s representatives, property agents or indeed all three given what has gone on in your conveyancing as of today.

We're in Sacriston, First time buyers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Bank of Ireland , and our lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

When it comes to lenders such as Santander, do Sacriston conveyancers have to pay a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are not aware of any mortgage company fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

is it true that all Sacriston solicitor firms on the Principality conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Principality conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I have paid off my mortgage with Santander. I assume I don't need a Sacriston property lawyer on the Santander panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Santander mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Santander mortgage from the register. Santander, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Santander has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Santander has instructed the Land Registry to do so

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Sacriston. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, however I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the service charge as normal given that all rents and maintenance invoices will be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sacriston - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

On the whole the cost for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Sacriston require leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance. Please inform me if there are any major works anticipated that will increase the maintenance fees? How much is the ground rent and service charge?

Our property lawyer in Sacriston has informed me that he requires personal identification documents asserting that this is part of his retainer as a conveyancer on the lender Solicitor panel. Am I being spun a yarn?

Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the mortgage company. This is not specific to conveyancing in Sacriston