My wife and I are buying a 2 bedroom flat in Dawlish with a mortgage. We have a Dawlish lawyer, but the lender says she’s not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to instruct one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or keep our Dawlish and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This feels very unfair; can we not require that the mortgage company use our Dawlish ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Dawlish conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My god-son is about to exchange on a house that has just been built in Dawlish with a mortgage from . His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. 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 conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
I have been told that property searches are a common cause of delay in Dawlish conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Dawlish.
three months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Dawlish took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 have been sourcing a conveyancing lawyer in Dawlish for my house move. Is there any facility to see a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
Members of the public may search for published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions arising from investigations from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. To find details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors record, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. International callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA could monitor call for training purposes.