Much to our surprise we have been informed by our broker that my Alton the law firm I have appointed is not on the lender Solicitor panel. What can I do to be sure whether this is correct?
The first thing you need to do is to contact your Alton lawyer directly. You lawyer should notify you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may be able to suggest a Alton conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.
I have paid off my mortgage with Aldermore. I assume I don't need a Alton solicitor on the Aldermore panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Aldermore mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Aldermore mortgage from the register. Aldermore, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Aldermore has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Aldermore has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Alton. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR with full details of your complaint.
It is not clear whether my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called my Alton building society branch on various occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My Alton conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called to say that they refuse to lend based on their published requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
Provided that the lawyer is on the lender panel, they must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
I am purchasing a new build house in Alton benefiting from help to buy. The sellers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not to tell my conveyancer about the deal as it would put at risk my mortgage with Virgin Money. 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 ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Alton I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, however it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Alton in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
I'm converting the mortgage on my primary property to a buy to let loan with Chelsea Building Society and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a down payment on another property. The area we are looking at is Alton. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and tie in the transactions?
Do use our search tool on this page to be sure that the lawyers are approved by both banks. Having checked that they are the lawyer should be able to simultaneously deal with the two conveyancing matters but you should have a chat with you conveyancer and specify your desired outcome and requirements.