My partner and I are planning to buy a property in Bassaleg and are in fact using a Bassaleg conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin Money have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Bassaleg conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bassaleg lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Bassaleg. I have a mortgage offer with Coventry BS. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have 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 Coventry BS, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Bassaleg. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £175. A couple of days later, the lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
I am selling my house. I had a double glazing fitted in March 2007, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Santander are being problematic. The Bassaleg solicitor who is on the Santander conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Santander are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Santander have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Santander have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Santander may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Bassaleg is the location of the property. Can you offer any guidance?
Flying freeholds in Bassaleg are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Bassaleg you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Bassaleg may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
My brother has recommend that I use his conveyancing solicitors in Bassaleg. Do I follow his advice?
Much as we are happy to recommend a Bassaleg conveyancing lawyer the ideal way to choose a conveyancing solicitor is to have referrals from friends or relatives who have experience in using the firm you're considering.
Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Bassaleg. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Bassaleg - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I acquired a leasehold flat in Bassaleg, conveyancing formalities finalised 7 years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Bassaleg with an extended lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2079
With just 53 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £27,600 and £31,800 plus costs.
The figure 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 without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.
My husband and I are buying a 2 room first floor flatin Bassaleg with a home loan from a bank. We like our conveyancer in Bassaleg but our lender says he's not listed on their "panel". We have to appoint from the our mortgage company panel solicitors or keep our Bassaleg conveyancer and incur the extra costs for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage company mortgage offered to you is subject to conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will on the bank's conveyancing panel. in the past, most banks had open panels, including many conveyancing solicitors in Bassaleg : a mortgagee 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. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.