My husband and I are looking to buy a home in Easton and have instructed a Easton conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barclays have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Easton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Accreditation 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Easton lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My husband and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Easton with Barclays. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Barclays conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Barclays. This is solely used to protect Barclays if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Barclays had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
Will commercial conveyancing searches reveal planned roadworks that could impact a commercial estate in Easton?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Easton will execute a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in sourcing accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Easton. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Easton.
For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Easton it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately may result in delays to Easton commercial conveyancing deals as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not conducted for domestic conveyancing in Easton.
I am looking for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Easton I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Easton for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.
We're FTB’s - had an offer accepted, yet the agent advised that the vendor will only proceed if we use the agent's recommended conveyancers as they want a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a family solicitor accustomed to conveyancing in Easton
It is highly unlikely the sellers are driving this. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Try to communicate with the vendors directly and make the point that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are ready to progress, with finances arranged © you are unencumbered (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you intend to instruct your preferred Easton conveyancing lawyers - as opposed tothose that will give the negotiator at the agency a kickback or meet his conveyancing figures set by senior management.
Back In 2001, I bought a leasehold flat in Easton. Conveyancing and Lloyds TSB Bank mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Easton who acted for me is not around. Any advice?
First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Easton conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I own a 1 bedroom flat in Easton, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Easton with an extended lease are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2085
With only 60 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £20,000 and £23,000 plus costs.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.