My fiance and I are looking to purchase a property in Sevenoaks and have instructed a Sevenoaks conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin Money have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Sevenoaks lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Sevenoaks solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Have purchased a a detached house in Sevenoaks , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to record my proprietorship? My Sevenoaks conveyancing solicitor has been painfully slow, so I want to check the registration is concluded.

There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in Sevenoaks registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can vary depending on the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any other persons or bodies. At present in the region of 80% of such applications are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be protracted hold-ups. Registration takes place once the new owner is living at the premises so an expedited registration is not typically an essential issue but where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Sevenoaks with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not to tell my lawyer about this deal as it would put at risk my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

What makes your site different to alternative web based conveyancing solicitors when it comes to conveyancing in Sevenoaks?

At this site secure a conveyancing quote via a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that has a full understanding of the nuances for your conveyancing in Sevenoaks. Unlike many estate agents and brokerage sites we do not operate referral deals with solicitors. A large number of agents and online brokers 'recommend' solicitors who pay the most commission, not the best value conveyancing in Sevenoaks

The property lawyers handling our conveyancing in Sevenoaks has sent papers to review that reveal that the property is unregistered with epitome documents. Surely all houses in Sevenoaks are registered?

Over ninety percent of property in Sevenoaks is registered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Plenty of Sevenoaks conveyancing solicitors should be familiar with such matters but if any uncertainty reigns the prevailing proposition these days seems to be for the seller to address the registration formalities first and thereafter deal with the disposal - this will have a knock on effect to cause a significant delay.