My husband and I are looking to purchase a property in West Hendon and have instructed a West Hendon conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barnsley Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our West Hendon lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred West Hendon lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Our god-son is about to exchange on a newly built flat in West Hendon with a home loan from UBS. His solicitor has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the UBS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the UBS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in West Hendon costs more?
The conveyancing fees for a leasehold property in West Hendon is frequently greater when contrasted to a freehold transaction. This is due to the supplemental time necessary in liaising with the landlord and management company to obtain information concerning whether the rent and maintenance fee have been cleared and whether there are any significant expenditure in the near future on repairs or maintenance of the block.
It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in West Hendon completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. 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.
Is there an average legal costs for conveyancing in West Hendon?
The average fee in 2014 for conveyancing in West Hendon was £1,500 excluding Land Tax and HMLR fees.