New Street Mortgages Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public
My husband and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. New Street Mortgages have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender.
In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact New Street Mortgages and see if they can apply for membership of the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable New Street Mortgages will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am purchasing a new build flat and my conveyancer is telling me that she is duty bound to disclose incentives from the seller as her practice is on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel. I am under pressure to exchange contracts and I dont want to prolong deal. Can I insist on an exchange regardless of what my lawyer says about being on the New Street Mortgages panel?
You should not exchange unless you have advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on the New Street Mortgages approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on New Street Mortgages). The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the New Street Mortgages approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the New Street Mortgages solicitor panel.
My grandfather passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the house. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to New Street Mortgages , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this allowed?
If you intend to re-mortgage then New Street Mortgages will insist on your using a conveyancer on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the New Street Mortgages mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
For 5 years I had a mortgage with New Street Mortgages. My uncle retired last week and wants to pay off the mortgage left on the property. After New Street Mortgages is paid, I want to transfer the property to my mother's name; How long will it roughly take? Do we need two separate solicitors on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the New Street Mortgages mortgage is discharged.
You
will need a solicitor but they need not be on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and
to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to
consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about
the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die
within 7 years of this. There's no capital gains tax for you as it is
your main residence.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a solicitor having made sure that they are on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Or
Having read lots of house buying,I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my solicitor - who is on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
New Street Mortgages will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually New Street Mortgages 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 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.
or
Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with New Street Mortgages you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.
We are are buying a terraced house in Hendon. Conveyancing solicitors in Hendon will soon beappointed. My brother-in-lawadvised that we double-check that the property lawyer in Hendon is on the New Street Mortgages solicitors panel. Aren't all lawyers on the New Street Mortgages panel?
Not all Hendon conveyancing firms are on the New Street Mortgages conveyancing panel. 8 people a month use our search tool to search for a Hendon conveyancing solicitor on the on the New Street Mortgages approved list of lawyers.