My husband and I are looking to purchase a house in Cumberland and have instructed a Cumberland conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Cumberland solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional 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 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Cumberland solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Are you able to recommend a Barnsley Building Society sanctioned Cumberland conveyancing conveyancer finish our home move within a short deadline? Am I best advised to choose a high street Cumberland conveyancer or a national firm?
We would be happy to suggest some excellent Cumberland conveyancing firms. Another option is to visit the high street in Cumberland. Visit a couple of law practices and request to speak with a conveyancing solicitor for a costs illustration. Mention your time frames together with your reasons and ask for a commitment on speed. Choose the lawyer that genuine.
My friend suggested that if I am purchasing in Cumberland I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Cumberland conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Cumberland around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Cumberland Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Cumberland.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Cumberland. I now require my papers but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Cumberland of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Cumberland I like with open areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cumberland in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage that many years may be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Cumberland with the purpose of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Cumberland can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors. You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Cumberland home move. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later. If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Cumberland leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first. If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Cumberland - Examples of Queries before Purchasing
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Are there any major works anticipated that could increase the maintenance charges? It would be prudent to discover as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much simpler or problematic. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical issues like the upkeep of the communal areas. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of them. In conclusion, be sure you know the dates that the service charges are due to the relevant party and precisely what it includes. Best to be warned whether redecorating or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared between the leasehold owners and will materially impact the level of the maintenance charges or necessitate a specific invoice.