My partner and I are hoping to purchase a house in New Barnet and are in fact using a New Barnet conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nottingham Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our New Barnet lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own New Barnet solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in New Barnet? What am I being asked for?
You are right in these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in New Barnet. However these days you can not proceed with any conveyancing deal if you have not providing evidence of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence plus a bank statement. Please note that if you are supplying your driving licence as evidence of identification it must be both the paper part as well as the photo card part, one is not acceptable in the absence of the other.
Evidence of the source of funds is necessary under Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancer will need to retain this information on file. Your New Barnet conveyancing solicitor will require evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any monies from you into their client account and they should also ask additional questions regarding the origin of funds.
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Lloyds. New Barnet conveyancing solicitors were selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Lloyds?
Some lenders take longer than others. Have Lloyds done the survey? Have you advised Lloyds as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in New Barnet. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £150. Shortly after, the solicitor called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Nationwide have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a property in New Barnet has been accepted, now what?
Your property agent will want to be informed of your conveyancer's details (make sure the solicitors are on the bank’s approved list). Call up Nationwide or your broker and finalise any appropriate paperwork. Nationwide will instruct a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or vendor to book an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Nationwide will send the offer to you and your conveyancers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in New Barnet.
I need some quick conveyancing in New Barnet as I am faced with an ultimatum to exchange contracts within one month. A home loan is not required. Can I escape the need for conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
As you are not getting a home loan you are at free not to have searches conducted although no conveyancer would recommend that you don't. Drawing on our experience of conveyancing in New Barnet the following are instances of what can be revealed and therefore impact future mortgageability: Refused Planning Applications, Outstanding Fees, Outstanding Grants, Road Schemes,...
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £305k and found one close by in New Barnet I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in New Barnet for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years remaining on my lease in New Barnet. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. On the whole a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing New Barnet.
Following months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in New Barnet. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a New Barnet conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a New Barnet premises is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 76 years.