I am in the market for a reasonably priced property lawyer. Should I go for for a national conveyancer as opposed to a local Honiton conveyancing solicitor?
Generally conveyancing solicitors in your location will enjoy strong relationships with your local authority, which could assist with the Honiton conveyancing searches that your lawyer will need to carry out. It can only assist if they have strong relationships with the Land Registry overseeing your area Honiton, other conveyancers in the neighbourhood and Honiton selling agents.
The Honiton conveyancing firm handling our Honiton conveyancing has discovered a discrepancy between the assumptions in the home valuation survey and what is revealed within the conveyancing documents. My solicitor says that he must check that the bank is OK with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my solicitor’s stance legitimate?
Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements 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 both parties.
I am looking to buy a house and need a conveyancing solicitor in Honiton who is on the Skipton Building Society approved. Can you recommend a local conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Skipton Building Society in certain locations such as Honiton. We dont recommend any particular firm.
I am the single recipient of my late mum's will with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Honiton. The Honiton property was put into my name in March. I want to move. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership could be treated the same way as if I'd bought the house in March. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be affected by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the lender as this provision is primarily there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of properties.
We previously instructed solicitors with offices in Honiton on the Yorkshire BS solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate fee for handling the Yorkshire BS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Yorkshire BS?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your lawyer may levy a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by Yorkshire BS but by your Honiton conveyancer. Numerous firms on the Yorkshire BS panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I've read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Honiton solicitor - who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Clydesdale will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Clydesdale will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Honiton surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I am purchasing a new build house in Honiton benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not inform my conveyancer about the extras as it could adversely affect my loan with Santander. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
My wife and I may need to sub-let our Honiton garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Honiton conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
Some leases for properties in Honiton do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.
I bought a 2 bed flat in Honiton, conveyancing having been completed September 1995. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Honiton with a long lease are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2103
You have 77 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £7,600 and £8,800 plus legals.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.