My wife and I are hoping to acquire a house in Frampton Cotterell and have instructed a Frampton Cotterell conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Frampton Cotterell conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Frampton Cotterell solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My Frampton Cotterell lawyer has identified an inconsistency when comparing the information in the home valuation survey and what is revealed within the title deeds. My solicitor has advised that he is duty bound to check that the bank is OK with this discrepancy and is content to go ahead. Is my lawyer’s stance legitimate?
Your conveyancing practitioner must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
How does conveyancing in Frampton Cotterell differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Frampton Cotterell approach us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because developers in Frampton Cotterell typically acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Frampton Cotterell or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Frampton Cotterell I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Frampton Cotterell suitable, 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 an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you may 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 with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
My father-in-law has encouraged me to instruct his conveyancing solicitors in Frampton Cotterell. Should I find my own property lawyer?
No doubt the ideal way to select a conveyancing solicitor is to have feedback from friends or relatives who have previously instructed the firm you're contemplating using.
We own a leasehold flat in Frampton Cotterell. Conveyancing was completed in 2009. I have read on various advice forums that I mustn’t let the lease length fall too short. Is this correct?
Frampton Cotterell domestic long term leases are for a prescribed term - often just under one hundred years when they are first granted. However a significant appartments in Frampton Cotterell were built or converted 35 or more years ago and so such leases now have under 80 years unexpired. This may seem like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage institutions tend to require leases to have a minimum of seventy five years remaining to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are approaching 75 years. To increase the marketability of your property you should be considering whether to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Furthermore significant benefits to doing so before the lease hits eighty years as when the lease is less than eighty years the premium to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.