My fiance and I are hoping to buy a flat in Gamlingay and are in fact using a Gamlingay conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. The Mortgage Works have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Gamlingay solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual 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 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 Gamlingay solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Having sold my house in Gamlingay last May but my buyer keeps texting daily complaining that their solicitor needs to hear from mine. What should my lawyer have done following completion?
After completion of your disposal your lawyer is duty bound to deliver the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. If applicable, your lawyer should also confirm that the mortgage has been discharged to the purchasers conveyancers. There is unlikely to be post completion requirements unique to conveyancing in Gamlingay.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Gamlingay for our home move. Our broker informed us that our mortgage lenders Halifax won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
A mortgage company may insist on a panel conveyancer act for it. You would be liable to bear the cost of this. Please make use of our directory service to select a solicitor to carry conveyancing in Gamlingay on the Halifax conveyancing panel.
This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Gamlingay. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Gamlingay?
On the day of completion you will not be required to go to the conveyancers office in Gamlingay. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be called to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens early afternoon.
I'm the only beneficiary of my late father’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Gamlingay. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in January. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be considered the same way as though I had purchased the house in January. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook obliges conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be caught by that. many banks would take a pragmatic view as this clause is principally there to identify subsales or the flipping of properties.
My offer was accepted on an apartment in Gamlingay on 3/1/2025, valuation was booked 2 days later, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to UBS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the UBS conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for UBS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the UBS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Gamlingay I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Gamlingay for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Gamlingay which have approximately fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?
There are plenty of short leases in Gamlingay. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Gamlingay - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing
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You will want to find out as much as possible about the managing agents as they can either make living at the property much simpler or much more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are often in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues such as the upkeep of the common parts. Don't be afraid to ask other tenants if they are happy with them. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and specifically what it includes. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? Are there any major works in the planning that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs?