My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Bebington and have appointed a Bebington conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Coventry Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Bebington lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 Accreditation 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bebington lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Bebington even if I’m not buying or disposing of a house, for example where I intend to buy an office in Bebington with a mortgage from Norwich and Peterborough Building Society?
Our search tool is predominantly used to select residential conveyancing solicitors in Bebington but we have set out at the bottom of this page some Bebington commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the firm directly to establish if they are also authorised to represent Norwich and Peterborough Building Society
We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our house in Bebington and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers instructed an online conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Bebington. Having lived in Bebington for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation need.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
It has been 4 months since my purchase conveyancing in Bebington completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Bebington where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Bebington conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with 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.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Bebington - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing
-
You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to lend given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Bebingtonlease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the residence for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease. You should want to discover as much as you can regarding the company managing the block as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to daily matters such as the cleanliness of the communal areas. Don't be shy to ask prospective neighbours what they think of their service. On a final note, be sure you know the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds. What is the length of the lease?
We are in the middle of buying a property in Bebington. Conveyancing solicitor has told us the title is "Leasehold". Should this impact the marketability of the house?
Bebington conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The main consideration here is the remaining lease term and the ground rent. If there are over a hundred years remaining with a nominal rent, it's virtually freehold, so it shouldn't impact the saleability too much.
At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, Sixty years it is bound to have a material impact on the value, and most likely wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be specified in the lease provided to your property lawyer.