We are buying a brand new duplex in Danbury and my lawyer is telling me that she is duty bound to the bank to disclose incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to sign contracts and my preference is not to prolong matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. 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.
A friend recommended that if I am purchasing in Danbury I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Danbury conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Danbury around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Danbury.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Danbury?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Danbury. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I was pointed in your direction by a few selling agents in Danbury to choose a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to recommend your services rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to make any financial incentive for sending work to this site. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Danbury both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Danbury is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. 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 premises 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 a residence 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 Danbury conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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 any new 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.
I purchased a leasehold flat in Danbury, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2007. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Danbury with over 90 years remaining are worth £221,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease expires on 21st October 2096
With just 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.
Are Danbury conveyancing solicitors duty bound by the Law Society to issue transparent conveyancing costs?
Inbuilt into the Solicitors Code of Conduct are specific rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their fees to clients.The Law Society have a practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not to be regarded as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, however, represent the Law Society’s perspective of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Danbury or or elsewhere in the country.