I am selling my apartment in South Molton. Does my conveyancing practitioner need to be required to be on the UBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the UBS 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 requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
Can you help - my lawyer advises that chancel insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in South Molton?
The right level of chancel indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and Coventry Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
I can not work out if my mortgage offer requires a lease extension. I have called into my local South Molton bank branch on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My South Molton conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called and was told they would not lend in accordance with their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?
The property lawyer must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook section two conditions for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
I've read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local South Molton solicitor - who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Clydesdale will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Clydesdale will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own South Molton surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
three months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in South Molton completed. 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.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in South Molton in advance of instructing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may not grant a mortgage on such a property.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in South Molton. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in South Molton to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
Should I instruct a South Molton conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can carry out the conveyancing but his firm is located approximately 350kilometers away.
The benefit of a local South Molton conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to sign paperwork, present your ID and pester them if necessary. Having local South Molton know how is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and they were content that should trump using an unknown South Molton conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being round the corner.