My wife and I are buying a 1 bedroom apartment in Amesbury with a mortgage. We have a Amesbury solicitor, however the lender advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or retain our Amesbury conveyancer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to demand that the lender use our Amesbury property lawyer ?
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. A further alternative is for your Amesbury conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My son-in-law is about to exchange on a new build apartment in Amesbury with a mortgage from UBS. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the UBS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the UBS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
A friend suggested that where I am purchasing in Amesbury I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Amesbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Amesbury around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Amesbury Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Amesbury Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Amesbury.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Amesbury. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Amesbury
-
There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one close by in Amesbury I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Amesbury for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
I am one month into a freehold purchase having been directed to conveyancers by the local agent to carry out the conveyancing in Amesbury. I am not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?
A lawyer would need to be really poor to suggest changing them. Has your mortgage offer been sent? If so you need to advise them of the new lawyer and have the mortgage documents are re-sent. Your new conveyancer needs to be on the banks approved list to avoid added expenses and complications. That should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool should assist you in finding a bank approved solicitor for your home move in Amesbury