My husband and I are buying a 3 bedroom apartment in Hawkshead with a mortgage. We have a Hawkshead solicitor, but the mortgage company advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel firms or continue with our Hawkshead conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. We regard this is unjust; are we not able to insist that the mortgage company use our Hawkshead lawyer ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Hawkshead conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose proposed roadworks that may impact a commercial land in Hawkshead?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Hawkshead will order a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Hawkshead. 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 Hawkshead.
For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Hawkshead it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately could result in delays to Hawkshead commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not conducted for residential conveyancing in Hawkshead.
Me and my brother own a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in Hawkshead. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Chelsea Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Hawkshead and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Hawkshead is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Hawkshead are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Hawkshead you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Hawkshead may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I'm converting the mortgage on my primary home to a BTL loan with Yorkshire Building Society and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a down payment on a second property. The location we are interested in is Hawkshead. Will your lawyers be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and tie in the transactions?
Do use our comparison tool on this page to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panels. Having checked that they are the conveyancer will be able to simultaneously deal with the two deals but you should have a chat with you conveyancer and specify your desired outcome and requirements.
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Hawkshead where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Hawkshead conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Hawkshead - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
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How much is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent? Best to be warned whether changing the roof or some other significant cost is anticipated to be shared amongst the tenants and may well materially increase the the service charges or require a specific invoice. Plenty Hawkshead leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the block levied by the freeholder. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually in instalments during the year. This could vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a large sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive.