Our solicitor has discovered a defect with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in St George. The seller’s lawyers have put forward defective title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our solicitor says that he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the bank?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the lender are the client. Your property lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the lender can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your conveyancer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in St George? Is this really necessary?
St George conveyancing solicitors and indeed property practitioners accross the UK have a duty under money laundering regulations to check the identity of any client with a view to ensure that clients are who they say they are.
Conveyancing clients will need to provide two forms of certified ID; proof of identity (typically a Passport or Driving Licence) and evidence of address (typically a Bank Statement less than 3 months old).
Evidence of the origin of monies is also necessary in compliance with the money laundering regulations as solicitors are mandated to ensure that the funds you are utilising to buy a property (whether it be the deposit for exchange or the total purchase amount where you are a cash purchaser) has come from legitimate source (such as an inheritance) rather than the product of illegitimate behaviour.
is it true that all St George conveyancing solicitors on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
We had chosen conveyancing lawyers based in St George on the Santander solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional fee for handling the Santander mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Santander?
As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your lawyer is entitled to levy a fee for this. This fee is not dictated by Santander but by your St George conveyancer. Numerous firms on the Santander panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
I have a mortgage with Clydesdale for my property in St George. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Your original mortgage agreement with Clydesdale will provide that you need their approval prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Clydesdale directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel firm.
I'm purchasing a new build house in St George with a mortgage from The Royal Bank of Scotland. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about the deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in St George I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in St George suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.