My partner and I are planning to purchase a property in New Addington and are in fact using a New Addington conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our New Addington solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own New Addington solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
How does conveyancing in New Addington differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in New Addington come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is finished. This is because house builders in New Addington usually buy the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in New Addington or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in New Addington I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in New Addington suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you need a mortgage that many years will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.
Am I right to be suspicious that 3rd parties that I am dealing with are recommending a national conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street New Addington conveyancing practice?
As with lots of service providers, often referrals from family and friends can be extremely useful or valuable. But there are many players in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, financial adviser and mortgage companies may suggest conveyancers to use. Sometimes these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there exists a commercial relationship behind the recommendation. You have the discretion to choose your preferred conveyancer. You need to be aware that most banks specify a panel list of lawyers you must use for the mortgage related work in your conveyancing.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in New Addington. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing New Addington.
Having spent months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in New Addington. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
if there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrive at the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a New Addington premises is The Woodlands 95 Purley Park Road in April 2009. The Tribunals own valuation produced the figure of £37,912. This case affected 6 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 78.32 years.
I bought a property in New Addington last 24/10/2024 and to date it is still not registered with the Land Registry. It is part of a new estate and my conveyancer told me that it may take 12 months to register. I have contacted the Land Registry directly and they have informed me the initial application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. What can I do?
Call your conveyancer - Where you are unsatisfied with the responses, find out about their firm’s complaints procedure and amplify your concerns to a Complaints Manager. Registrations for New Addington conveyancing are not known to be significantly delayed.