I am buying a newly built flat in Lewisham and my lawyer is informing me that she is duty bound to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to sign contracts and I don't want to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The UK Finance Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
After reading consumer advice sites for a cheap lawyer in Lewisham, many say that I should use a CQS kitemarked lawyer. Can you explain what CQS is?
The Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) provides a kitemark for residential conveyancing practices issued by the Law Society. Membership achievement establishes a level of credibility for member firms with stakeholders (regulators, lenders, insurers and consumers) based upon: * the integrity of the senior responsible officer and other key conveyancing staff * the firm's adherence to good practice management standards * adherence to best practice conveyancing procedures through the scheme protocol Membership includes numerous partnerships who carry out conveyancing in Lewisham.
My wife and I purchasing a victorian detached house in Lewisham. Our aim is to carry out an extension to the side at the property.Will legal investigations on the property include investigations to determine if these alterations are allowed?
Your conveyancer will review the deeds as conveyancing in Lewisham can on occasion reveal restrictions in the title deeds which restrict categories of works or require the consent of another owner. Some works call for local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Some locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. It would be wise to check these things with a surveyor before you commit yourself to a purchase.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Lloyds. I assume I don't need a Lewisham conveyancing practitioner on the Lloyds panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Lloyds mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Lloyds mortgage from the register. Lloyds, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Lloyds has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Lloyds has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Lewisham solicitor - who is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Co-operative will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Co-operative 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 Lewisham 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on two weeks back in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Lewisham is where the house is located. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Lewisham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Lewisham 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 Lewisham may ascertain 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 property.
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Lewisham. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.
If the lease is registered - and most are in Lewisham - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
Having spent years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Lewisham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Lewisham conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Lewisham residence is 73 Walerand Road in August 2012. the result of the findings of the Tribunal led to a premium to be paid for the extended lease in respect of Flat 73 in the sum of £10,040. The premium applicable in respect of Flat 85 was £5,710. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 72 years.
Myself and my partner have just had an offer accepted on a property and had an appointment on Wednesday with Leeds Building Society for the mortgage. They warned us that when it comes to choosing a property lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of conveyancing practitioners then we will be subject to an an extra fee of £200. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to select a conveyancer to act on their behalf in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we assume responsibility for their fees. I have asked Leeds Building Society to provide me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of Leeds Building Society what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the solicitor of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on mortgages for Leeds Building Society before. Where the answer to those is yes, then just double check with Leeds Building Society. Alternatively please utilise our search facility and we should be able to find you a solicitor in Lewisham on the panel for Leeds Building Society.