My flat in Llay is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will the property lawyer have to be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.
We are purchasing a terrace house in Llay. We would like to convert the garage to a playroom at the house.Will the conveyancing process include investigations to see if these works are permitted?
Your solicitor should check the registered title as conveyancing in Llay will occasionally reveal restrictions in the title documents which prevent certain changes or need the consent of another owner. Many additions need local authority planning permissions and approval in compliance with building regulations. Certain locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or impact extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with UBS. I assume I don't need a Llay conveyancing practitioner on the UBS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your UBS 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 UBS mortgage from the register. UBS, 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 UBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- UBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
My offer on a property in Llay has been agreed to, but there is a chain. The sellers have put an offer on a property, but it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other apartments booked. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Llay. What should be my next step? At what point should I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Llay conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you should check that your conveyancer is on the Barclays approved list. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, attraction to this property and on the state of the market. During a hot market many home buyers would apply for the mortgage with Barclays and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancer to proceed with searches.
My wife and I have a renovated Georgian property in Llay. Conveyancing practitioner acted for 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: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should read 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 Llay and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the position with your conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Llay is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Llay are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Llay you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Llay 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 residence.
I have been pointed in your direction by a few property agents in Llay to get a quote from a solicitor using your seach tool. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your site over and above another?
We don’t make any commission for directing people in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission 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.
Is there a reason that Llay conveyancing fees are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?
There is always increased work involved in leasehold conveyancing. Llay has many leasehold properties. There is more paperwork involved in the purchase: for example, the lease and leasehold information (including current service charge, ground rent and buildings insurance details) obtained from the freeholder or managing agents. There are strict criteria that the lease must meet in order to be acceptable to a mortgage company. If it does not meet these requirements, the lease must be amended, which can involve additional expense for the seller.