I am planning to acquire a flat and require a conveyancing solicitor in Barnstaple who is on the Barclays Direct solicitor. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Barclays Direct in certain locations such as Barnstaple. We dont recommend any particular firm.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as a first time purchaser of a ground floor flat in Barnstaple. Do I receive the keys to the premises on the completion date from my lawyer? If so, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Barnstaple?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Barnstaple solicitor on the HSBC panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your HSBC 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 HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, 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 HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Barnstaple solicitor having checked that they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Barclays will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Barclays 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Barnstaple surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
My wife and I have a semi-detached Victorian property in Barnstaple. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Barnstaple and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who carried out the work.
I'm buying my first flat in Barnstaple with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about the side-deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Barnstaple prior to retaining lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Barnstaple. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Barnstaple to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.