Am I correct in assuming that the fact that my conveyancer in Campden Hill is not identified on my mortgage company's solicitor panel that there is a problem with the standard of his work?
That would more than likely be a wrong assumption to make. There are plenty of reasonable explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator indicated 76% of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The most common reasons for removal are: (1) low volume of transactions (2) the lawyer is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. Should you be concerned you should contact the Campden Hill conveyancing firm and enquire why they are no longer on the approved list for your lender.
It is a dozen years since I bought my property in Campden Hill. Conveyancing lawyers have just been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down the deeds. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be kept by the mortgage company or they may still be with the lawyers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in all probability the property will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Campden Hill involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
I purchased a terraced Victorian property in Campden Hill. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Clydesdale. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. Is it worth asking Clydesdale to clarify?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Campden Hill and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.
I decided to have a survey completed on a property in Campden Hill ahead of retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to grant a loan on this type of house.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can check with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Campden Hill. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Campden Hill to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Should I use a Campden Hill conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can execute the legal formalities but his firm is located approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The benefit of a local Campden Hill conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to sign documents, present your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and they were happy that must surpass using an unknown Campden Hill conveyancing lawyer just because they are round the corner.
I am employed by a long established estate agency in Campden Hill where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Campden Hill conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Following years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Campden Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the amount due.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Campden Hill flat is 93 Oakwood Court in June 2010. the LVT determined that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £492,083, This case affected 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 37.79 years.