My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a property in Leatherhead and are in fact using a Leatherhead conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Leatherhead conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Leatherhead solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Leatherhead last October yet the purchaser is calling daily to moan that their conveyancer needs to hear from myconveyancer. What are the post completion sale legalities following completion?
Following your sale your solicitor is duty bound to deliver the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. If applicable, your conveyancer must also confirm that the mortgage has been discharged to the buyers solicitors. There are no post completion requirements just for conveyancing in Leatherhead.
I am considering applying for a Virgin Money mortgage for purchase of a newly converted (under development) in Leatherhead with 60% LTV. Is it compulsory to choose a solicitor on the conveyancing panel for Virgin Money ?
There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor, but Virgin Money will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is greater potential for delays and confusion with an additional lawyer added to the mix, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.
We had appointed conveyancing lawyers locally in Leatherhead on the Barclays solicitor approved list. They have just billed me a supplemental amount for handling the Barclays mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Barclays?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner may charge a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Barclays but by your Leatherhead solicitor. Numerous firms on the Barclays panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Leatherhead. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Almost all banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Leatherhead conveyancer having made sure that they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Coventry BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Coventry BS 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 Leatherhead 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £305k and identified one near me in Leatherhead I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Leatherhead in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.