Should lawyers request money on account for conveyancing in East Acton?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in East Acton your lawyer will ask you to provide them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. When the down payment is as part of the sale price then this will be required shortly in advance of exchange of contracts. The closing balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.
The East Acton conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in East Acton have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a solicitor on the RBS conveyancing panel and my preferred East Acton lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the RBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.
I have been told that property searches are the number one reason for stalling in East Acton house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the top 10 causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in East Acton.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in East Acton?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in East Acton. 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 have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in East Acton I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in East Acton for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
We expect to complete the disposal of our £175,000 flat in East Acton in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in East Acton?
East Acton conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually requires the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions the majority will be content to do so. They are entitled to invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.
Having spent months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in East Acton. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a East Acton flat is 49 Long Drive in March 2014. The tribunal concluded that the price payable for the freehold interest in the Property should be £26,491 divided as to £12,546 in respect of the ground floor flat and £13,945 in respect of the first floor flat This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 68.47 years.