My wife and I are purchasing a 3 bedroom apartment in Portishead with a mortgage. We like our Portishead solicitor, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have no choice but to appoint one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or retain our Portishead lawyer and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. We consider that this is inequitable; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you 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 Portishead conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My fiance and I changing mortgage lender for our flat in Portishead with Yorkshire BS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Yorkshire BS. This is solely used to protect Yorkshire BS if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Yorkshire BS had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
My wife and I are selling our house in Portishead and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Portishead. Having lived in Portishead for three years we know of no issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to seek clarification need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must 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)
Taking into account that I am about to part with hundreds of thousands of pounds on a two bedroom apartment in Portishead I wish to talk to a lawyer regarding thehouse move in advance of appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?
This is something that we encourage - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the lawyer due to be carrying out your conveyancing in Portishead.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important person, not a case reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are quoted for residential conveyancing in Portishead should be the figure that you are charged.
I purchased a flat in Portishead last 23/10/2024 and to date it is still not recorded with HM Land Registry. It is part of a new estate and my conveyancing practitioner told me that it can take one year to complete the registration formalities. I have called HMLR directly and they have informed me the original application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Do I need to be concerned?
It is your solicitor that you really need to get in touch with in order to satisfy any concerns which have arisen as part of the registration process for your Portishead property. Normal Portishead conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's lawyer that they will assist in resolving any question raised by HMLR so it may be a case of taking action to enforce that undertaking in some way.