My wife and I are buying a brand new flat in Chiswick and my lawyer is informing me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the developer. I am under pressure to exchange and my preference is not to delay deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My flat in Chiswick is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Does my conveyancer need to be on the Principality conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Principality conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.
2 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Chiswick took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in Chiswick differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Chiswick contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is constructed. This is because house builders in Chiswick tend to buy the land, 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 Chiswick or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in Chiswick I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Chiswick suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities 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 lawyer concerning this.
My partner and I have had DIP from Barclays who suggested that they will loan up to £117k. At what point do I need to instruct a lawyer for conveyancing? Chiswick is where we plan to move to.
You can instruct a solicitor now so that the conveyancing practitioner can open the file so they can do their AML checks etc. Once you wish them to commence work they will seek a payment on account normally about £200. That should normally be once you have the mortgage offer and survey back, however if you want to expedite the process you can start the ball rolling sooner even though you may be risking some money.