We see that you have a search directory listing law firms on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for our conveyancing in Berkeley?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Berkeley.
I am selling my house in Berkeley. Does my solicitor need to be on the Principality conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Principality conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
We are buying a house and the solicitor has mentioned Chancel Repair to which the property may be liable given it’s proximity to the area of such a church. She has recommended insurance. Is this strictly appropriate for conveyancing in Berkeley
Unless a previous acquisition of the property completed after 12 October 2013 you can assume that solicitors conducting conveyancing in Berkeley to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Berkeley I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Berkeley for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan that many years will likely be an issue. 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 at least twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Last March I purchased a leasehold property in Berkeley. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I acquired a studio flat in Berkeley, conveyancing was carried out December 1999. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Berkeley with a long lease are worth £180,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2084
With only 59 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £20,900 and £24,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Is there a reason that Berkeley conveyancing charges differ for leasehold and freehold properties?
When purchasing a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control