I am buying a property mortgage free in Alcester. I have lived for the last dozen years in Alcester. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. As I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a home loan, then almost all of the Alcester conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will ’encourage you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she has a professional duty to do this. Do bear in mind; if you are going to dispose of the house one day, it will be of interest to your future buyer what the searches disclose. Sometimes premises with day to day issues can still throw up adverse search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Alcester will provide you some practical advice here.
The Alcester conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in Alcester have without warning shut down. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous Alcester lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
My colleague advised me that if I am buying in Alcester I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your Alcester conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Alcester around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Alcester.
My wife and I own a semi-detached Georgian house in Alcester. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Bank of Ireland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Bank of Ireland to clarify?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Alcester and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.
I own a leasehold flat in Alcester. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Alcester who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?
First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Alcester conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
I acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Alcester, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable properties in Alcester with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2095
With only 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.
My wife and I are purchasing a garden flat in Alcester. When we first instructed property lawyer, they told us that they were on all mainstream mortgage company panels. Our mortgage broker emailed yesterday to say that they are not on the Leeds Building Society approved list. If it turns out to be true, what should we do? Should we simply pick a different conveyancing practitioner that is on their approved list or do we pay for dual representation, with Leeds Building Society appointing their own preferred lawyer.
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchaser’s lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a lawyer has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the property lawyer to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the solicitor has to satisfy. Some mortgage companies now require their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should call Leeds Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on Leeds Building Society's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Alcester lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another conveyancing practitioner into the equation.