My partner and I are acquiring a ground floor flat in Bath. My lawyer is not listed on the lender conveyancing panel. Can I still appoint my Bath conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank approved list?
Various options include
- Complete the purchase with your chosen Bath conveyancing practitioner but your mortgage company will need to use a property lawyer on their approved panel. The net result is additional cost and likely interruption.
- Choose a fresh solicitor to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your property lawyer to attempt to join the bank panel
Please could you recommend a Alliance & Leicester approved Bath conveyancing firm that can complete within less than a month? Am I best advised to unstruct a local Bath firm or a web based comparison site?
We can recommend some very good Bath conveyancing firms. You can also walk up the high street in Bath. Go in to a couple of firms and request to speak with a conveyancing solicitor for a fee estimate. Explain your requirements together with your reasons and ask for an assurance on speed. Select the lawyer that genuine.
It is is a decade since I acquired my property in Bath. Conveyancing lawyers have just been retained on the sale but I can't locate the deeds. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the lender or they could be in the possession of the lawyers who handled the purchase. Secondly in all probability the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Bath involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Bath I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bath for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you require a mortgage that many years will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Taking into account that I am about to spend 450k on a house in Bath I wish to have a conversation with the solicitor regarding thetransaction prior to instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?
We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the solicitor who will be doing your conveyancing in Bath.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is an important person, not a matter number. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are quoted for residential conveyancing in Bath should be the figure that you are charged.
I work for a long established estate agent office in Bath where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Bath conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I inherited a studio flat in Bath, conveyancing having been completed in 2009. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Bath with over 90 years remaining are worth £190,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2087
You have 62 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £17,100 and £19,800 plus costs.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.