I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in Fleet for our house move. Our broker has since notified us that our mortgage company Santander won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
Mortgage Companies ordinarily restrict either the type or the amount of conveyancing firms on their member panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. In addition to restricting the profile of firm, some have limited the number of solicitor practices they permit to represent them. You should note that Santander have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Santander Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a primary driver in the reduction of solicitor panels since 2008 even though there are differing opinions about the extent of solicitor engagement in some of that fraud. Data from the Land Registry indicate that thousands of law firms, including some in or near Fleet only conduct a couple conveyances per annum.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a garden flat in Fleet. Do I collect the keys to the premises on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Fleet?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the vendor’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to pick up the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen early afternoon.
My uncle advised me that in purchasing a property in Fleet there may be a number of restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external changes to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of anumerous of properties in Fleet which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Fleet should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Fleet. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Soon after, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Coventry BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Hoping to buy a property located in Fleet and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Fleet. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Fleet area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Fleet. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
Am I best advised to instruct a Fleet conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can deal with the legal work but his firm is located 200miles drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Fleet conveyancing practice is that you can attend the office to sign paperwork, present your identification documents and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Fleet know how is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust instructed your friend and on the whole were happy that must outweigh using an unfamiliar Fleet conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.
Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our Fleet 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Fleet conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
Some leases for properties in Fleet do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.
I invested in buying a ground floor flat in Fleet, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Fleet with over 90 years remaining are worth £192,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced every year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2080
With 54 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £32,300 and £37,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.
I acquired a house in Fleet last 4/8/2025 and to date it is still not recorded with HMLR. It was part of a new estate and my lawyer told me that it can take 12 months to register. I have contacted HM Land Registry directly and they say that the initial application was cancelled due to questions not being addressed in time. What can I do?
It is your conveyancing practitioner that you really need to get in touch with in order to satisfy any questions which have arisen as part of the registration process for your Fleet property. Normal Fleet conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's conveyancing practitioner that they will assist in resolving any requisition raised by HMLR so it may be a case of taking action to enforce that undertaking if necessary.