My partner and I are looking to buy a property in Morganstown and have appointed a Morganstown conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Morganstown solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 Morganstown lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I just acquired a flat at auction in Morganstown. Conveyancing is needed. What is next?
Given that you are now legally bound yourself to purchase you now have to hire the services of a conveyancing practitioner as a matter of priority as you are facing a tight deadline in which to complete the property. An auction property should have a corresponding legal set of papers. This will include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold property the auction pack may contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation specific to a leasehold property. You should pass this on to the conveyancer working for you at the earliest opportunity. You also need to ensure that you have funds in order to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Morganstown. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Lloyds be concerned?
Given that your lender is Lloyds your lawyer must check the formal instructions set out in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Lloyds. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook stipulates minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Lloyds where a lease fails to meet these specifications. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not limited to Morganstown.
I have paid off my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a Morganstown conveyancer on the Nottingham panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Nottingham 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 Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, 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 Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so
A friend suggested that where I am buying in Morganstown I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is occasionally included in the estimate for your Morganstown conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Morganstown around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Morganstown.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Morganstown before retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies tend not grant a loan on such a property.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can investigate further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Morganstown. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Morganstown to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Morganstown which have approximately forty five years unexpired on the leases. should I be concerned?
There are plenty of short leases in Morganstown. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena.
I purchased a 1st floor flat in Morganstown, conveyancing formalities finalised April 2009. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Morganstown with over 90 years remaining are worth £192,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2080
With 54 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £32,300 and £37,400 plus legals.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
My conveyancing in Morganstown is set to complete on Friday, but the person I am purchasing from wants to move out the next day at afternoon. Can I accept such a plan?
If you are having a loan then your lawyer will demand that you have vacant possession on Friday - the mortgage company will demand it.