My wife and I are buying a house in Cornhill On Tweed. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? On completion day we have to put funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

My stepmother pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Cornhill On Tweed there may be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to a property. Is this right?

We are aware of a number of properties in Cornhill On Tweed which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to perform external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Cornhill On Tweed should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in September 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, HSBC are being pedantic. The Cornhill On Tweed solicitor who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but HSBC are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do HSBC have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that HSBC have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why HSBC may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

five months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Cornhill On Tweed concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I am buying a new build flat in Cornhill On Tweed. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cornhill On Tweed

Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Please provide evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Cornhill On Tweed what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Cornhill On Tweed is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , Bank of Scotland, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Cornhill On Tweed Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the block? Please note if it is less than eighty years it will impact the value of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will probably need a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for 24 months before you are legally able to extend the lease. Does the lease contain onerous restrictions?

My step-son is just in the process of moving home, he had his mortgage in principle. One the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we called the building society to progress the mortgage application. I was very surprised to hear that banks do not accept all solicitor, they must be on their panel, is this right?

Mortgage Companies normally imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Cornhill On Tweed conveyancer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.