I am acquiring a flat in Ashbourne. My property lawyer has never been on on the lender approved list. Can I still retain my Ashbourne conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company list of approved lawyers?
You have a number of options available to you here
- Complete the deal with your existing Ashbourne property lawyer but your lender will no doubt instruct a property lawyer from their approved panel. This will result in additional charges together with probable interruption.
- Get a new property lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your property lawyer to pull out all the stops to join the mortgage company panel of solicitors
At what point can the exchange of contracts happen for residential conveyancing in Ashbourne and do I need to attend the solicitors branch?
If you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Ashbourne you are invited in to sign the paperwork. However, the lender approved solicitors we work with offer a nationwide conveyancing service and provide just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The signing of the contract is not when everything is set in stone. Signing on the dotted line is necessary for the solicitor to officially exchange when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Ashbourne)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a first time purchaser of a garden flat in Ashbourne. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Ashbourne?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Ashbourne. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the owner’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be able to receive the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Ashbourne. I have a mortgage offer with Aldermore. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Aldermore, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Aldermore conveyancing panel.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Ashbourne. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £200. Not long after, the solicitor called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Bank of Ireland panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Ashbourne before appointing lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to issue a mortgage on this type of house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Ashbourne. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Ashbourne to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ashbourne with the intention of saving time on the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Ashbourne can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers. A minority of Ashbourne leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers. If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Ashbourne conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible. If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
Ashbourne Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing
-
The majority of Ashbourne leasehold apartments will have a service charge for maintenance of the building levied by the freeholder. If you purchase the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually in instalments during the year. This may vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to check it because on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. It is important to be aware whether a new roof is being put on or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared between the leasehold owners and will materially increase the the service fees or result in a specific invoice. How many years are left on the lease?
I require the services of a lender panel solicitor in Ashbourne. Can you assist?
Unfortunately it’s not apparent why you need a Ashbourne panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to the mortgage company to find out which solicitors in Ashbourne are on their panel . If you do find such a firm in Ashbourne not listed please direct them to our site to list. After all the cost is only one £1 a month