My lawyer in New Mills has never been on on the The Mortgage Works Approved Panel. Can I still continue with my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the The Mortgage Works approved list?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Carry on with your existing New Mills solicitors but The Mortgage Works will need to instruct a lawyer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the total legal charges as well as result in delays.
- Find a new solicitor to act in the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the The Mortgage Works panel
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in New Mills. Conveyancing is needed. What are my next steps?
Given that you are now legally committed yourself to purchase you should retain a conveyancing solicitor as a matter of urgency as you will have a pending deadline in which to complete the property. Every auction property will have an associated legal set of papers. This should include most,if not all of the documents that your conveyancer will need. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the legal pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing documentation pertinent to leasehold premises. You should give this to the solicitor instructed by you ASAP. Do make sure that you have funds in order to complete on the date specified in the contract.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in New Mills. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I've read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local New Mills solicitor - who is on the Principality conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your New Mills postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Principality, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in New Mills.
My wife and I own a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in New Mills. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 New Mills and other areas of 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 your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
My father-in-law has encouraged me to instruct his conveyancing solicitors in New Mills. Do I take his guidance?
Much as we are happy to recommend a New Mills conveyancing lawyer it’s preferable to select a conveyancing solicitor is to seek recommendations from friends or relatives who have actually used the firm that you are contemplating using.
All being well we will complete the sale of our £325,000 flat in New Mills in 8 days. The managing agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in New Mills?
New Mills conveyancing on leasehold flats often requires the buyer’s conveyancer submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be willing to assist. They may levy a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to complete the sale of your home.
Leasehold Conveyancing in New Mills - Examples of Queries before buying
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What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? This information is useful as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where repairs are not paid for b) if the tenants have an issue with the managing agents you will need to have all the details Its a good idea to find out as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they will either make life much easier or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day issues such as the upkeep of the communal areas. Ask other people what they think of their management. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the relevant party and precisely how they are spending that money.
My parents are unable to locate their New Mills property on the HMLR website. They recall that back in the 60’s when they purchased the bungalow there were complications regarding the address not being recognised in some systems.
Almost all premises in New Mills should be revealed. Have you attempted a search to just the postcode. Usually it will identify all the residences inside that postcode. Where registered it will be there with a title number. Where they bought fifty years ago it's conceivable it may be unregistered. The address may still be revealed but with the title number identified as 'na'. In this scenario you will need to find the original title papers which could be with your parent’s mortgage company.