My fiance and I are hoping to buy a property in Cowes and have appointed a Cowes conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. HSBC Bank have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Cowes lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Cowes lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Having sold my house in Cowes last June yet the purchaser is e-mailing daily to moan that his conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
Post completion of your sale your lawyer should deliver the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer should also evidence that the mortgage has been repaid to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion procedures specific conveyancing in Cowes.
We are planning to move home in June. Will my conveyancing solicitor call the removal company on the day of completion. Incidentally, can you suggest a removal company in Cowes. Conveyancing lawyer was chosen before I stumbled across this site.
On the day of completion you will need to collect the house keys from the estate agent however this should only occur once the sellers conveyancers confirm to the agent that the monies to complete are in and the keys can be handed over. After that you should advise the removal men that you are ready to move in. As a matter of policy we do not suggest a specific removal company but can help you find a residential property solicitor in Cowes or a solicitor that specialises in conveyancing in Cowes.
My wife and I purchasing a victorian detached house in Cowes. The intention is to carry out a loft conversion at the property.Will legal conveyancing on the property include investigations to ascertain if these works are allowed?
Your solicitor will review the registered title as conveyancing in Cowes can on occasion identify restrictions in the title deeds which restrict categories of alterations or necessitated the permission of a 3rd party. Certain extensions require local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Many areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. It would be wise to check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
I have instructed a Cowes conveyancer having made sure that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Cowes surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I own a semi-detached Edwardian property in Cowes. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Nottingham Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. Is it worth asking Nottingham Building Society to clarify?
You should review 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 Cowes and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Cowes which have approximately 50 years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Cowes is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the value of the property. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Cowes conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
Cowes Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before buying
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Its a good idea to discover as much as you can regarding the company managing the building as they can either make living at the property much simpler or problematic. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day issues like the tidiness of the common parts. Ask other tenants what they think of them. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the appropriate party and precisely how they are spending that money. The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is often retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. What is the yearly service fee and ground rent?
Are the Cowes conveyancing lawyers identified as being on the lender conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by the bank?
Cowes law firm practices and firms conducting conveyancing in Cowes themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the lender conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from the mortgage company directly.