I am assisting my mother sell her flat in Hendon. Will the conveyancer commission the energy assessment or should I organise this?
After the demise of HIPs, EPC’s became a compulsory element of selling a property. An energy assessment should be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. This is not as aspect of the sale process that conveyancers normally arrange. Where you are instructing a Hendon conveyancing lawyer they might be willing to arrange energy assessments given their relationships with long established local assessors
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Hendon off the council. I have a mortgage agreed with TSB. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with TSB, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the TSB conveyancing panel.
Planning on purchasing a flat in Hendon. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Hendon property lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.
A relative recommended that if I am buying in Hendon I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Hendon conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Hendon around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Hendon Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Hendon Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Hendon.
I have a 4 bedroom Victorian house in Hendon. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and National Westminster Bank. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Hendon and other locations in 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 buyers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.
I am purchasing a new build house in Hendon benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent suggested that I not reveal to my solicitor about this extras as it would adversely affect my mortgage with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I decided to have a survey completed on a house in Hendon prior to appointing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to issue a loan on such a house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Hendon. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
I was recommended by a number of property agents in Hendon to locate a conveyancer on your site. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to promote your lawyers over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t offer any commission for directing people in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.