My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a home in Abertillery and have appointed a Abertillery conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Abertillery conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Abertillery lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I currently have a mortgage with UBS for my property in Abertillery. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. In the event that I decide 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 UBS?
Your original mortgage agreement with UBS will provide that you need their approval prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of UBS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent 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 UBS directly. You need not do this via a UBS conveyancing panel solicitor.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Abertillery. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £225. A couple of days later, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.
I have instructed a Abertillery property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Nationwide will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nationwide will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Abertillery postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Abertillery.
I require quick conveyancing in Abertillery as I am under pressure to complete within one month. Thankfully I do not need a mortgage. Is it possible to escape the need for conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
As you are not getting a home loan you are at free not to have searches carried out although no conveyancer would advise that you don't. Drawing on years of experience of conveyancing in Abertillery the following are instances of what can show up and adversely impact market value: Refused Planning Applications, Outstanding Fees, Outstanding Grants, Unadopted Roads,...
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At this site receive a fixed fee quote from a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that has a full understanding of the issues of your conveyancing in Abertillery. Unlike many estate agents and many comparison sites we are not in the business of charging firms a fee if you instruct them for your property ownership legalities in Abertillery
What can I do to find out who owns a property in Abertillery?
On the basis that the premises is registered with the Land Registry, and you have enough information of the address of the premises, you will be able to obtain details from the HMLR of the recorded proprietor for a fee.