My fiance and I are planning to acquire a flat in Huyton and are in fact using a Huyton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Virgin Money have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Huyton lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 lender 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 Huyton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Will my solicitor be raising questions about flooding during the conveyancing in Huyton.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers conducting conveyancing in Huyton. There are those who purchase a property in Huyton, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate building insurance, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous checks that can be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Huyton. The conventional set of information sent to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a usual inquiry of the owner to determine whether the premises has ever been flooded. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past and is not notified by the seller, then a purchaser may bring a legal claim for losses stemming from an incorrect answer. The purchaser’s conveyancers should also carry out an enviro search. This will higlight whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further investigations should be carried out.
It has been four months since my purchase conveyancing in Huyton took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Is it simple use the search tool to get a fee calculation from a conveyancing solicitor in Huyton on the panel for my mortgage?
Step one is to pick a mortgage company such as Birmingham Midshires, Coventry Building Society or Aldermore then specify your location for example Huyton. Conveyancing firms in Huyton and beyond will then be listed.
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Huyton where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Huyton conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is 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 Huyton - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
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If a Huyton lease has less than 80 years it will impact the value of the property. Check with your bank that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the premises for two years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. Is there a share of the freehold? Who are the managing agents?
Would local authority permission be necessary to change a house into two flats in Huyton? This has occurred to a house opposite to my home in Huyton and was not aware of it happening until it was done.
Planning Consent yes. Building Reg Approval yes.