My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a home in Hanslope and have appointed a Hanslope conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Leeds Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Hanslope solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Hanslope solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I are buying a new build apartment in Hanslope and my lawyer is informing me that she is duty bound to the lender to disclose incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and I have no desire to prolong the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I have todayfound out that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Hanslope for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I establish that my home is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to check if the property is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Hanslope conveyancing specialists.
My father-in-law has recommend that I instruct his lawyers for conveyancing in Hanslope. Should I find my own conveyancer?
No doubt the ideal way to choose a conveyancing practitioner is to seek guidance from friends or relatives who have experience in using the solicitor you're contemplating using.
Last October I purchased a leasehold house in Hanslope. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Leasehold Conveyancing in Hanslope - Sample of Queries before buying
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Its a good idea to discover as much as possible about the company managing the block as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are often in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day issues such as the upkeep of the communal areas. Enquire of other tenants whether they are happy with them. On a final note, find out the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the relevant party and specifically what you get for your money. Where a Hanslope lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. Check with your lender that they are willing to lend given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability?
I need to change lawyers as my Hanslope lawyer is not on the lender's approved list of conveyancing solicitors. Is it advisable to appoint a new law firm?
If you haven't yet appointed a solicitor to commence the conveyancing and at this stage simply received quotes, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in Hanslope that you're thinking of instructing.