My wife and I are planning to acquire a house in Brockley and have appointed a Brockley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Skipton Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Brockley solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 solicitor 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 and you may continue to use your own Brockley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
What happens if my solicitor is suspended from the Kent Reliance Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Brockley?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
I am helping my mother sell her flat in Brockley. Does the solicitor arrange the EPC or do I organise this?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy assessments was left as a compulsory component of selling a property. An EPC must be commissioned prior to the property being placed on the market. It is not something that solicitors normally arrange. Where you are using a Brockley conveyancing solicitor they might be able to arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with long established local assessors
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Brockley. Do I receive the keys to the house on completion from my lawyer? If so, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Brockley?
On the day of completion you do not need to go to the conveyancers office in Brockley. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
Please help - my lawyer advises that restrictive coveneant insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Brockley conveyancing?
The appropriate level of restrictive coveneant indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Barclays and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
The deeds to our property are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Brockley 4 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
You no longer need to hold title original deeds to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or premises, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Brockley I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Brockley for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be an issue. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Brockley conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Brockley conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Brockley conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be helpful:
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What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Brockley in the last twenty four months? Can they put you in touch with clients in Brockley who can give a testimonial?
After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Brockley. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Brockley conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Brockley property is Flat b 14 Kemble Road in May 2014. The Tribunal assessed the value of the premium payable for the lease extension to be £9,761 This case affected 1 flat.