In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in St Anns? What am I being asked for?

It is indeed that case that these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in St Anns. However these days you will not be able to complete any conveyancing deal if you have not providing proof of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence plus a council tax bill. Please note that if you are providing your driving licence as evidence of identification it must be both the paper section as well as the photo card part, one is not sufficient in the absence of the other.

Evidence of the source of funds is necessary in accordance with the Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when you are asked to produce this as your conveyancer must have this information on record. Your St Anns conveyancing lawyer will require evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any monies from you into their client account and they should also ask additional questions concerning the source of funds.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Virgin Money. I assume I don't need a St Anns conveyancer on the Virgin Money panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money mortgage from the register. Virgin Money, 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 Virgin Money has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Virgin Money has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in St Anns off the council. I have a mortgage agreed with Barclays. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Barclays, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel.

Our sealed bid on a semi in St Anns has been agreed to, the owners do however have a dependent purchase. The sellers have placed an offer on on an apartment, however it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in St Anns. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage application with Principality going?

It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then valuation, St Anns conveyancing search charges, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your conveyancer is on the Principality approved list. Regarding the next phase this very much dictated by the circumstances of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a hot market the majority of home buyers will apply for a home loan with Principality and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their property lawyer to proceed with searches.

I am buying a new build house in St Anns with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The estate agent told me not to tell my lawyer about the extras as it would impact my loan with Skipton Building Society. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in St Anns prior to retaining conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you contact us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in St Anns. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in St Anns to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

Am I right to be wary about estate agents that I am dealing with are recommending a factory type conveyancing firm rather than a local St Anns conveyancing practice?

As is the case with lots of service providers, often recommendations from relatives can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are numerous people with a vested interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and banks might all put forward conveyancers to use. On occasion the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but occasionally there might be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to appoint your own lawyer. You need to be aware that the majority of mortgage providers specify a panel list of conveyancers you must use for the lender aspect of your house move.