My husband and I are purchasing a 2 bedroom apartment in Stafford with a mortgage. We like our Stafford conveyancer, however the lender advise he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to instruct one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or continue with our Stafford as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not demand that the mortgage company use our Stafford ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose 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. Another option that might be available is for your Stafford conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Should lawyers request an advanced payment for my conveyancing in Stafford?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Stafford your solicitor will request that you put them with monies to cover the search fees. Generally this is asked for to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is as part of the total price then this should be needed shortly prior to exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed should be transferred shortly before completion.
What is the optimum way to check that the solicitor carrying out my conveyancing in Stafford is on the mortgage lender’sconveyancing panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for thus spending £187.00 plus VAT in another set of conveyancing costs.
Feel free to take advantage of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this web page. Please choose the lender and type ‘Stafford’ or your location and you will be presented with a number of lawyer offices in Stafford or by proximity to you.
It has been 2 months following my purchase conveyancing in Stafford concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I purchased a 1st floor flat in Stafford, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Stafford with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 50
You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £36,100 and £41,800 as well as professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.