I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a fairly new development (6 years old) in Lymington. The vast majority the flats have already been disposed of. Is it really necessary to order local searches as part of conveyancing in Lymington?
If you getting a mortgage, your lender will require some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Lymington conveyancing searches are optional. Your solicitor, will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have the searches done, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you insist that your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or you will need to switch to an alternative solicitor for your conveyancing in Lymington.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Lymington last April yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours complaining that their conveyancer is waiting to hear from mylawyer. What should have happened following completion?
Post completion of your disposal your conveyancer is obliged to deliver the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. Where relevant, your lawyer should also evidence that the mortgage has been redeemed to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion steps peculiar conveyancing in Lymington.
Do I have to attend the offices of the solicitor to execute the legal charge? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in Lymington so that I can pop in to their offices when needed.
Whereas this was necessary 12 years ago, most mortgage companies no longer need their conveyancing panel lawyer to witness the mortgagors signature. It will still be necessary for you to supply ID documents and there are still distinct benefits to using a locally based solicitor, in your situation a conveyancing solicitor in Lymington.
When it comes to lenders such as HSBC, do Lymington solicitors have to pay a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to register on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Santander. I assume I don't need a Lymington lawyer on the Santander panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Santander 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 Santander mortgage from the register. Santander, 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 Santander has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Santander has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The mortgage over my property is with Santander for my property in Lymington. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Santander?
Your original mortgage agreement with Santander will provide that you need their approval prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Santander’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Santander will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Santander directly. You need not do this via a Santander conveyancing panel solicitor.
five months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Lymington concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. 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.
I am attracted to a two apartments in Lymington which have about 50 years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Lymington is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. For most purchasers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Lymington conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Lymington - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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The majority of Lymington leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied on behalf of the landlord. If you purchase the flat you will have to pay this liability, normally quarterly during the year. This could be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a large sum, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire as on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds. The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders have control and although a managing agent is usually retained if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the building?