I'm in the process of transferring my existing standard mortgage to a BTL Aldermore mortgage. The bank has said that I need a lawyer as part of the process. I spoke to my former Wick conveyancing practitioner who dealt with the legals when I initially bought the house. The fee calculation they've given of £470 is an eye-watering amount to do this as I am not require purchase conveyancing - it’s just a bog-standard refinance.
The estimate fees appear a little high. Where you are happy to invest time scrutinising quotes you may be able to decrease the fees marginally by as much as £125. On the other hand, if you were pleased with the legal work the firm gave you mightlive to regret choosing an an unknown lawyer. If is important to check the conveyancer can act for Aldermore. You can utilise our search tool to get a quote a Wick conveyancing firm on the Aldermore approved list of lawyers, which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Wick.
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Wick. Conveyancing is necessary. What are my next steps?
Given that you are now legally committed yourself to purchase you should hire the services of a conveyancing practitioner quickly as you are faced with a tight a drop dead date to complete the property. An auction property will have a bespoke legal pack. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold property the legal pack may provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork pertinent to a leasehold property. You must pass this on to the lawyer instructed by you ASAP. Do make sure that you have funds in place to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
My offer was accepted on a house in Wick on 23/7/2025, valuation was booked five days later, all came back fine. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to RBS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the RBS conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for RBS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the RBS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Our sealed bid on a property in Wick has been agreed to, the sellers do nevertheless have a connected purchase. The owners have offered on a property, but it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other flats in the pipeline. I have instructed a local conveyancing solicitor in Wick. What should be my next step? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money?
It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Wick conveyancing search charges, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your solicitor is on the Virgin Money approved list. Concerning the next stages this very much depends on the uniqueness of your transaction, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a rising market the majority of buyers will apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their conveyancer to press on with the conveyancing in Wick.
My partner and I are intent on selling our house in Wick and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built land that was not decontaminated. A local lawyer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers used a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Wick. We have lived in Wick for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Should we contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same ailment)
The deeds to our house are lost. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Wick 5 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?
Assuming the title is registered the information relating to your ownership will be documented by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and secure up to date copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually retain a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
I am purchasing a new build house in Wick with a loan from Nationwide Building Society. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent suggested that I not to tell my lawyer about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.