My fiance and I are planning to buy a house in Bolton and are in fact using a Bolton conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Bolton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bolton solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My nephew is purchasing a house that has just been built in Bolton with a mortgage from Coventry BS. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
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 Coventry BS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. 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 Coventry BS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Bolton for our home move. Our financial adviser has since advised us that our mortgage company TSB won't deal with them. Surely this is unfair competition?
Banks ordinarily imposes restrictions either the category or the volume of conveyancing practices on their member panel. Typical examples of such criteria being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the profile of firm, some have decided to limit the amount of solicitor practices they allow to represent them. You should note that TSB have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of TSB Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the reduction of solicitor panels a few years ago even though there remains mixed views concerning the extent of solicitor engagement in some of that fraud. Figures from the Land Registry reveal that plenty of law firms, including some in or near Bolton only conduct very few conveyances a year.
I have todayfound out that Wolstenholmes have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Bolton for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I check that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest method to check if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Bolton conveyancing specialists.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one near me in Bolton I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Bolton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.