My husband and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Burgess Hill and are in fact using a Burgess Hill conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Burgess Hill solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Burgess Hill solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I have given 2 months notice to my existing landlord and must be out of my let out flat in Burgess Hill by the end of next month. Conveyancing on my purchase has just started. How realistic is it to complete in 5 weeks as I wish to avoid having to find temporary accommodation?
It is unwise to provide notice for your letting until you have exchanged. Assuming that you have not already done so, speak to your conveyancer and ask them to they seek the assistance the owners side, try to an agreed time frame that everyone will aim to achieve
I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Burgess Hill for our house move. Our broker informed us that our bank Santander won't deal with them. Surely this is unduly restrictive?
A decade ago most banks had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all Burgess Hill conveyancing firms would have been on many lender panels. The Financial Services Authority in 2010 conducted a thematic review into mortgage fraud which concluded: know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, lenders have regularly sought more data from law firms about their operations and their employees and set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum volume of transactions. Many Burgess Hill conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have Unblemished track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Burgess Hill is one of the numerous areas where the lawyers showing on our search results are members of the panel for Santander.
How does conveyancing in Burgess Hill differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Burgess Hill approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because new home sellers in Burgess Hill typically acquire the site, 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 conveyancers 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 Burgess Hill or who has acted in the same development.
Is it possible to swap conveyancer as I have to instruct one who is on the Coventry Building Society conveyancing list. I had appointed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Burgess Hill five minutes from me but he is not accepted by Coventry Building Society
It would be our pleasure to help you select a conveyancing solicitor in Burgess Hill on the Coventry Building Society panel. Please note that the solicitors that we on the directory do not pay us a referral fee if you instruct them and are under regulation of the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Burgess Hill. In making use of search facility on this site, you can scrutinise fees for conveyancing solicitors in Burgess Hill and beyond.
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Burgess Hill with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Burgess Hill can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ lawyers. The majority of freeholders or Management Companies in Burgess Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Burgess Hill. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. Some Burgess Hill leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Burgess Hill, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2002. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Burgess Hill with over 90 years remaining are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2085
With 60 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £20,000 and £23,000 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.