We are purchasing a 3 bedroom apartment in Lymm with a mortgage. We like our Lymm lawyer, but the lender says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have little option but to select one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or retain our Lymm conveyancer and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This seems very unfair; are we not able to insist that the mortgage company use our Lymm lawyer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Lymm conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
I am acquiring a property mortgage free in Lymm. I have been living for the last 15 years in Lymm. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. Given that I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a mortgage, then almost all of the Lymm conveyancing searches are optional. Your conveyancer will ’encourage you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches done, but she has a professional duty to do this. Do consider; if you are likely to sell the house in the future, it could be of interest to your prospective buyer what the searches determine. On occasion premises with no practical issues can still show up adverse search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Lymm will provide you some constructive advice concerning this.
My property lawyer in Lymm is not on the Halifax Solicitor Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Halifax panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Carry on with your existing Lymm lawyers but Halifax will need to instruct a lawyer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the overall legal charges as well as cause delays.
- Choose an alternative practitioner to to deal with the purchase, not forgetting to check they are on the Halifax panel
My relative recommended that where I am buying in Lymm I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Lymm conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Lymm around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Lymm Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Lymm.
My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Lymm. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Virgin Money. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to 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 Lymm and other locations in 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 question the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Lymm. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Lymm who previously acted has long since retired. Any advice?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Lymm conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Lymm, conveyancing was carried out 5 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Lymm with over 90 years remaining are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2093
You have 67 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.