Me and my partner are buying a 3 bedroom flat in Virginia Water with a mortgage. We have a Virginia Water solicitor, but the mortgage company advise she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to select one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or retain our Virginia Water lawyer and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. We regard this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you 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 Virginia Water conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our flat in Virginia Water with Nationwide. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Nationwide conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Nationwide. This is solely used to protect Nationwide if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Nationwide had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
is it true that all Virginia Water solicitor firms on the Aldermore conveyancing panel are regulated by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Aldermore approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the CLC.
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Lloyds. Virginia Water conveyancing practitioners have been chosen. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Lloyds?
There is no definitive answer here. Have Lloyds done the survey? Have you informed Lloyds as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Virginia Water. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A few days later, the property lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Skipton panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My relative advised me that where I am buying in Virginia Water I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is occasionally included in the estimate for your Virginia Water conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Virginia Water around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Virginia Water Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Virginia Water.
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At this site receive a conveyancing costs illustration from a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that has a full understanding of the issues of your conveyancing in Virginia Water. As opposed to estate agents and many comparison sites we do not charge firms a commission if you choose them for your property ownership legalities in Virginia Water