My apartment in Cumberland is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Does the property lawyer need to be required to be on the Skipton conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Skipton conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently at the moment.
I have been advised by my conveyancer that chancel insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Cumberland conveyancing?
The appropriate level of chancel indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between National Westminster Bank and Virgin Money. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.
I currently have a mortgage with Nottingham for my property in Cumberland. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Nottingham?
Your original mortgage agreement with Nottingham will provide that you need their approval prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nottingham’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Nottingham will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nottingham directly. You need not do this via a Nottingham conveyancing panel solicitor.
Planning on purchasing a maisonette in Cumberland. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the TSB 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 Cumberland conveyancer is on the TSB conveyancing panel.
We are downsizing from our property in Cumberland and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a nationwide conveyancing practice rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Cumberland. Having lived in Cumberland for three years we know of no issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of 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)
2 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Cumberland concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 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 property 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.
My step-son is just in the process of moving home, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. When the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we called the building society to progress the mortgage application. We were disappointed to discover that mortgage lenders do not accept all property lawyer, they must be on their panel, is this right?
Banks normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Cumberland solicitor on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.