My partner and I are planning to purchase a house in Kingsbridge and are in fact using a Kingsbridge 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. National Westminster Bank have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Kingsbridge conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Kingsbridge lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
As a novice what is the most important piece of guidance you can impart about purchase conveyancing in Kingsbridge?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Kingsbridge or throughout England and Wales is often a confrontational experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for friction between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. E.g., the seller, estate agent and on occasion the lender. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in Kingsbridge an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE party in the process whose responsibility is to act in your legal interests and to keep you safe.
Sometimes a potential adversary will attempt to persuade you that you should follow their advice. For instance, the selling agent may claim to be assisting by claiming that your conveyancer is dragging his heels. Or your mortgage broker may tell you to do take action that is contrary to your solicitors advice. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in Kingsbridge took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £180,000. 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 residence 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.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Kingsbridge ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. My surveyor advised that some banks may not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Kingsbridge. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Kingsbridge to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
My company is looking to take an assignment of a lease of a shop on a shopping parade. Can you recommend conveyancers offering no-move-no charges for non-domestic conveyancing in Kingsbridge for less than 1500k?
We can recommend firms who have well rounded knowledge of commercial conveyancing in Kingsbridge, including the sale and acquisition of businesses as well as simply property. If you are intending to buy or dispose of a shop, pub, restaurant, office, retail premises or a whole business we will find you the right firm. Regarding the costs these will vary based on the structure and heads of terms of the proposed transaction. Let us have your contact information or call us so that we may supply you with comprehensive commercial conveyancing quote.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Kingsbridge conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Kingsbridge conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Kingsbridge conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be helpful:
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Can they put you in touch with clients in Kingsbridge who can give a testimonial? If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
Kingsbridge Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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What is the length of the lease? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? Plenty Kingsbridge leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the landlord. If you buy the property you will have to pay this charge, normally periodically during the year. This could differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say about £50-£100 but you should to check as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds.