I am purchasing a property mortgage free in Brigg. I have resided for the previous 15 years in Brigg. Conveyancing searches are expensive. Given that I know the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
In the absence of a home loan, then the vast majority of the Brigg conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your lawyer will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but she has a professional duty to take that path of encouragement . One thing to consider; if you are going to dispose of the house at a future date, it may be of interest to your future purchaser what the searches determine. On occasion properties with apparent issues can still reveal negative search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Brigg should provide you some sensible guidance here.
The Brigg conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Brigg have without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a solicitor on the UBS conveyancing panel and my previous Brigg lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the UBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
My relative advised me that where I am buying in Brigg I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Brigg conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Brigg around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Brigg Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Brigg Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Brigg.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Brigg?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Brigg. 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…’
How does conveyancing in Brigg differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Brigg contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because developers in Brigg tend to buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Brigg or who has acted in the same development.
I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Brigg. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, however I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?
It best that you discharge the service charge as usual given that all ground rent and maintenance charges should be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I inherited a studio flat in Brigg, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Brigg with a long lease are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2089
With 64 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £14,300 and £16,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to 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.