Buyers lender demanding I instruct a solicitor?

Buyers lender demanding I instruct a solicitor?

6:30 AM, 6th August 2021, About 3 years ago 16

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I am selling a leasehold flat and 50% share of the freehold. I have a buyer, they have received a mortgage offer. I am doing my own conveyancing. The buyer’s Conveyancers have agreed on the documentation and the Deed of Variation (to extend the lease to 999 years and reduce the Ground Rent to a peppercorn per annum) and all with them held to my order.

The buyer’s lender, TSB, have according to the buyer’s Conveyancers, now demanded at the 11th hour that the Deed of Variation is registered at HM Land Registry prior to completion and not registered by the buyer’s Conveyancers after completion along with the TR1’s etc (though a simultaneous exchange of contracts and completion has been agreed) AND that in order to proceed with this transaction I have to have a solicitor.

My question: can a lender demand a seller to use a solicitor for the conveyance? This is contrary to the Legal Services Act s10 which exempts me from s14-16 as not doing the conveyance for a fee or monetary gain.

For what it’s worth, I have a law degree and 40 years of experience doing my own conveyancing.

The buyer’s Conveyancers are acting for the lender’s interests as well as their client’s interests.

Many thanks

Judith


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Comments

Paul Shears

20:45 PM, 6th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Don't put up with this for a moment.
I had a similar problem when I purchased my first property which had never been registered with the land registry, and was previously covered by a underlease The Head lease went back to the 17th century.
I had massive problems with everyone that I dealt with but I got the property in the end. I was put in a contracts race by the sellers solicitor.
To give the man his due, he stated as I lifted my pen from the contract that I had just signed the "No solicitor would ever stand a chance against you".
I had no legal training whatsoever, although I could translate the middle English that the early documents were written in.
I subsequently did my own conveyancing five times covering the main variations on property ownership.
Each time I was obstructed by the other party's solicitor.
Two things came out of this:
1. It is in the interest of a solicitor holding a deposit to maintain that deposit as long as possible because a few million invested is a nice additional income from which the depositor gets nothing.
2. The other party's solicitor cannot object to you talking directly to them and bypassing their solicitor. You will then be in a position to know exactly who is holding things up. Most of the real work can be done in a couple of hours and a solicitor will delegate that to someone on minimum wage.

Judith Wordsworth

20:53 PM, 6th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 06/08/2021 - 20:45
This time I'm being obstructed by my buyers lender even though legally a conveyance can be done by anyone if not for a fee.

Pure discrimination. Wondering if the Equalities Act could cover this lol

Blodwyn

8:09 AM, 7th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Now I wonder why this retired solicitor never wanted to do conveyancing? Although I am told some of my friends (yes, I do have a few) dealing with agricultural and non-residential matters had some fun!

Judith Wordsworth

8:50 AM, 7th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Lindsay Keith at 07/08/2021 - 08:09Having had to correct my buyers Conveyancers shoddy work is one thing but being backed unfairly against a wall by a lender is quite another.

Adrian Jones

8:56 AM, 7th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 06/08/2021 - 19:52
Good luck.

Brendan Loughnane

10:46 AM, 7th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Sued previous solicitors for professional negligence. It took 10 years fighting against insurance company’s multi-national solicitors who used all (well, nearly all) the dirty tricks in the book to avoid paying out, although liability was admitted at the outset. Local judge threw their case out but they carried on wriggling. We won in the end thanks to a BRILLIANT solicitor who ran his own independent practice single handedly in London, over 200 miles away fro me. Another solicitor from the same firm went to jail for fraud. On another occasion, the Land Registry rejected the Transfer Deed on a later purchase because the same (!) solicitors had messed the TR1 form up … and then tried to put the blame on me! I was cross.

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