My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Almondsbury and are in fact using a Almondsbury conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Almondsbury lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Almondsbury lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
AssumingI was to purchase a straightforward propertyin Almondsbury for cash and have no survey and no conveyancing searches how much should I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Almondsbury?
Any savings you would gain would be limited to the costs for searches. The lawyer is obliged to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, communicating with your vendors lawyer, stamp duty submission, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a mortgage but it will not be significant.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Almondsbury for our home move. Our broker has since notified us that our bank Birmingham Midshires won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
Mortgage Companies in the main restrict either the type or the volume of conveyancing firms on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such criteria being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the type of firm, some have limited the number of solicitor practices they allow to represent them. You should note that Birmingham Midshires have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Birmingham Midshires Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a primary driver in the rationalisation of solicitor panels a few years ago even though there are mixed opinions about the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that hundreds of law firms, including some in or near Almondsbury only carry out a couple conveyances per annum.
There is lots of information on this site concerning conveyancing in Almondsbury but can you isolate your top tip for appointing the right conveyancer in Almondsbury
It would be unwise to be swayed by the lowest Almondsbury conveyancing quote. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in advance.
It is unclear whether my lender obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called into my local Almondsbury building society branch on various occasions and was told it does not impact the mortgage offer and they would lend. My Almondsbury conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called to say that they would not lend based on their published requirements. Who do I believe?
The conveyancing practitioner must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook Part 2 conditions for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank 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 mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
Leeds Building Society have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a apartment in Almondsbury has been accepted, what happens next?
The property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s panel). Contact Leeds Building Society or the financial adviser and complete any outstanding forms. Leeds Building Society will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or seller to arrange an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Leeds Building Society will send the offer to you and your solicitors. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Almondsbury.
3 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Almondsbury completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £180,000. 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 property 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.
Last October I purchased a leasehold flat in Almondsbury. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I inherited a 2 bed flat in Almondsbury, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Almondsbury with a long lease are worth £196,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2089
With 64 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £15,200 and £17,600 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.