Me and my fiance are hoping to acquire a 3 bedroom apartment in Stafford with a mortgage. We have a Stafford solicitor, however the lender advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel solicitors or continue with our Stafford as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We regard this is unjust; are we not able to insist that the mortgage company use our Stafford ?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’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 Stafford conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Do lawyers request money up-front for conveyancing in Stafford?
If you are buying a property in Stafford your lawyer will ask you place them with funds to cover the search fees. Normally this is requested to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is payable against the sale price then this will be asked for immediately ahead of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer a few days prior to the day of completion.
Is there a search tool that I can utilise to discover of the solicitor handling my conveyancing in Stafford is on the mortgage lender’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for thus paying £187.00 plus VAT in additional legal costs.
Feel free to make the most of the search tool on this page. Pick the lender and type ‘Stafford’ or your location and you will see numerous solicitors based in Stafford or nearest you.
It has been 3 months since my purchase conveyancing in Stafford concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 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 residence 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 purchased a garden flat in Stafford, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Stafford with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 50
With just 50 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £36,100 and £41,800 plus professional fees.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.