My husband and I are purchasing a newly constructed duplex in Farnham and my solicitor is advising me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange contracts and my preference is not to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
The Farnham conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Farnham have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel and my family Farnham lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.
Can you help - my lawyer says that lack of right of way insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Farnham?
The right level of lack of right of way indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Santander and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
We had selected conveyancing lawyers located in Farnham on the Bank of Ireland solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate amount for handling the Bank of Ireland mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Bank of Ireland?
As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner may charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Bank of Ireland but by your Farnham solicitor. Plenty of firms on the Bank of Ireland panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
My sealed bid on a house in Farnham has been accepted, the vendors do however have a dependent purchase. The owners have placed an offer on somewhere, however it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other apartments booked. I have selected a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Farnham. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage application with HSBC started?
It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Farnham conveyancing search fees, etc). First, you should check that your property lawyer is on the HSBC approved list. Concerning the next steps this very much dictated by the circumstances of your case, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a hot market many home buyers will apply for the mortgage with HSBC and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their lawyer to press on with searches.
I completed on my home on 3 June and my personal details are still not on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Farnham said it would be registered in less than a month. Are transfers in Farnham uniquely lengthy to register?
As far as conveyancing in Farnham registration is no quicker or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timeframes can adjust subject to who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry communicate with any 3rd persons or bodies. At present roughly three quarters of submission are fully dealt with within 12 days but some can be subject to longer delays. Registration is effected once the new owner has moved in to the property thus registration formalities is not typically primary concern but if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer could speak with the land registry and explain the circumstances.
We're first time buyers - agreed a price, but the estate agent has warned us that the seller will only move forward if we instruct the agent's recommended conveyancers as they want a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local solicitor who is familiar with conveyancing in Farnham
We suspect that the owner is unaware of this request. Should the vendor want ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a motivated purchaser is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Try to communicate with the vendors directly and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you are going to appoint your preferred Farnham conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide the estate agent a introducer fee or hit his conveyancing figures demanded by senior management.