Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Colindale. My lender is Platform
Platform have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 13/4/2025, the requirements read as follows :
I am helping my mother sell her flat in Colindale. Will the solicitor commission the energy performance certificate or do I organise this?
Following the demise of Home Information Packs, EPC’s became a compulsory component of moving property. An EPC must be commissioned before the property is marketed. It is not something that solicitors normally arrange. If you are using a Colindale conveyancing practitioner they may be able to arrange energy assessments due to their relationships with long established Colindale providers
I am purchasing a property in Colindale. One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender UBS be concerned?
As your lender is UBS your lawyer must check the formal instructions set out in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for UBS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook contains minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to UBS where a lease does not comply with these requirements. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not isolated to Colindale.
Our offer on a house in Colindale has been accepted, but there is a chain. The sellers have put an offer on somewhere, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have chosen a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in Colindale. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with Kent Reliance going?
It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Colindale conveyancing search fees, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your solicitor is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Regarding the next stages this very much dictated by the circumstances of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a rising market some buyers will apply for a home loan with Kent Reliance and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their conveyancing practitioner to move forward with searches.
Is it necessary to take out insurance to cover chancel repairs when acquiring a property in Colindale?
Unless a previous purchase of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in Colindale to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.
Me and my brother have a renovated Edwardian property in Colindale. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Nottingham Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Colindale and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Colindale I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Colindale for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage that many years will be problematic. Reduce the offer 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 could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Colindale where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Colindale conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.
We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Colindale. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?
Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrive at the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Colindale flat is 27B Hillside in February 2010. the resulting premium, all other aspects of the valuation having been agreed between the parties was set at £8,250 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 70.25 years.