We are about to exchange contracts for a ground floor flat in Newport. We have hit a problem. The mortgage offer with Coventry Building Society expires on 9/1/2025 but the sellers are putting forward a completion date of 13/1/2025. Can one extend the mortgage offer?
The best person to deal with your concern is your lawyer who will assess whether he or she is better off negotiating with the lender, seller’s lawyers, property agents or possibly all parties taking into account the history of your house move to date.
It is is a decade since I bought my property in Newport. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been appointed on the sale but I can't find my deeds. Is this a major issue?
Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be retained by the lender or they could still be with the lawyers who handled the purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers procuring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Newport involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is suspended from the Co-operative Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Newport?
First, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
How does conveyancing in Newport differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Newport contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because developers in Newport tend to purchase the real estate, 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 conveyancers 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Newport or who has acted in the same development.
What tools are available to identify a Newport law firm on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am happy to travel upto 20kilometers to meet the solicitor.
You can use the search on this website. Please choose the bank and your location and you will see a number of Newport conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have listed some Newport conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can ring them to see if they are on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society panel
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Newport which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Newport is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Newport conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
Newport Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying
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The best form of lease structure is if the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees have control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently retained if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. How is the lease structured? Many Newport leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building levied by the freeholder. Should you acquire the flat you will have to meet this contribution, normally quarterly accross the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a significant amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds.