My partner and I are hoping to purchase a property in Eastbourne and are in fact using a Eastbourne conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Eastbourne lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Eastbourne lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
A relative suggested that where I am buying in Eastbourne I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Eastbourne conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Eastbourne around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Eastbourne Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Eastbourne Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Eastbourne.
I used Arc property Solicitors several years ago for my conveyancing in Eastbourne. Now, I need the documents however the law firm is no longer operating. 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 Eastbourne of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
About to purchase a new build apartment in Eastbourne. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Eastbourne
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If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one close by in Eastbourne I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Eastbourne in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
As co-executor for the will of my grandfather I am selling a house in Newport but live in Eastbourne. My solicitor (based 250 miles from mehas requested that I execute a statutory declaration prior to the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Eastbourne to witness and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are based in Eastbourne