My husband and I are purchasing a ground floor flat in Bingley. My lawyer has never been on on the mortgage company approved list. Is it possible for me to use my Bingley conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the lender panel?
You must appoint a lawyer to complete the legal work required if you take out a loan to purchase your home. They will conduct all the necessary legal checks on the property, ensuring that you will be registered as proprietor and ensure that all the necessary mortgage paperwork is in place. You could appoint a Bingley solicitor of your choosing. However, where the conveyancing practitioner appointed is not a member of the lender solicitor panel further costs will arise as separate legal representation will be required by them. Conveyancing panel applications may be submitted, so provided your conveyancer has not historically applied for membership they should do so.
My Solicitor in Bingley has never been on on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society Approved Panel. Is it possible for me to use my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society panel?
Your options are as follows:
- Carry on with your preferred Bingley lawyers but Norwich and Peterborough Building Society will need to use a solicitor on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the overall conveyancing fees and result in delays.
- Choose a new practitioner to to deal with the purchase, not forgetting to check they are Norwich and Peterborough Building Society approved.
- Persuade your Norwich and Peterborough Building Society solicitor to attempt to join the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society panel
A relative advised me that if I am purchasing in Bingley I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Bingley conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Bingley around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Bingley Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Bingley.
I was pointed in your direction by numerous estate agents in Bingley to get a quote from a solicitor on your site. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to recommend your site ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any commission for directing people to this site. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Bingley. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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 own a garden flat in Bingley, conveyancing having been completed September 2005. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Bingley with an extended lease are worth £201,000. The ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2090
With 65 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £13,300 and £15,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
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 comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
A conveyancing company handled my conveyancing in Bingley seven years ago and was holding my deeds but has now closed – What steps do I now take to retreive these?
Deeds, as such, are no longer appropriate for most homes in Bingley are recorded electronically at Land Registry. If you need to establish evidence of proprietorship or are selling or refinancing your solicitor will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.
If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.