I am selling my apartment in Morley and the estate agent has just telephoned to warn that the purchasers are appointing a new solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named lender only work with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Morley ?
Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for many years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Morley? What am I being asked for?
To satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations any Morley conveyancing firm will require evidence of your identity in all conveyancing matters. This is normally satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account evidencing where you live.
Under Money Laundering Regulations, property lawyers are obliged by law to investigate not simply the ID of conveyancing clients but also the origin of the money that they receive in respect of any matter. An unwillingness to disclose this may result in your conveyancer cancelling their retainer with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.
Your conveyancers will have an obligation to inform the relevant authorities should they believe that any amounts received by them may contravene the Money Laundering Regulations.
My lawyer in Morley is not listed on the Accord Mortgages Ltd Approved Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my family solicitor even though they are not on the Accord Mortgages Ltd list of approved lawyers?
The limited options open to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Morley solicitors but Accord Mortgages Ltd will need to retain a lawyer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees as well as cause delays.
- Get an alternative lawyer to act in the purchase, not forgetting to check they are Convince your solicitor to do everything within their powers to join the Accord Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as a first time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Morley. Do I pick up the keys to the house on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Morley?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to pick up the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
Planning on purchasing a flat in Morley. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Morley lawyer is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel.
I have finally had an offer on a flat in Morley agreed to, but there is a chain. The owners have put an offer on a property, but it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties booked. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Morley. What do I do now? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with UBS?
It is normal to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Morley conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the UBS conveyancing panel. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the specifics of your transaction, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a rising market many home buyers would apply for the mortgage with UBS and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they request their solicitor to press on with searches.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our property are lost. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Morley 4 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?
You no longer need to have the physical original deeds to prove you are the registered proprietor of land or property, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.