My husband and I are intent on purchasing a ground floor flat in Bearsted. My property lawyer is not listed on the mortgage company solicitor panel. Is it possible for me to use my Bearsted conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the bank panel?
You have a number of options available to you here
- Carry on with your chosen Bearsted conveyancing practitioner but your bank will no doubt retain a solicitor on their approved list. The net result is additional charges and potential delay.
- Get a fresh property lawyer to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to pull out all the stops to get listed on the mortgage company panel of solicitors
I require conveyancing for a flat in a relatively new development (seven years built) in Bearsted. 95% of the appartments are already disposed of. Do I need carry out the local searches for my conveyancing in Bearsted?
You would be taking a significant risk in refusing to carrying out Bearsted conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying mortgage free there is no legal necessity to have them, but we would absolutely advise in no uncertain terms that you have them. If accelerating the process and cost are primary issues you should consider with your solicitor about the options such as indemnity insurance available to you
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Bearsted?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Bearsted. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Bearsted I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bearsted in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Bearsted conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Bearsted conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Bearsted conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions could be of use:
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If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason? What are the costs for lease extension work?
I own a split level flat in Bearsted, conveyancing was carried out August 2011. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Bearsted with an extended lease are worth £227,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2098
With just 72 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Midway through the sale of a leasehold flat in Bearsted. Conveyancing is fine but we have been asked to pay an extortionate amount by the landlord. So far we have paid £250 for a leasehold management pack and then a further £134.40 for answers to queries supplied by the purchaser's conveyancer.
Your solicitor will unlikely have any control over the extent of the bill for this information however the typical fee for the information for Bearsted leasehold property is £355. When it comes to Bearsted conveyancing transactions it is usual for the seller to pay for these charges. The landlord or their agents are not duty bound to address these questions most will be content to do so - albeit often at high prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires capped fees for administrative tasks. Nor is there any set time frame by which they are duty bound to issue answers.