I am under pressure from the owner of a property in North London to complete within four weeks. What can I do to speed up matters?
In the event that the seller is applying a tight deadline to sign contracts we would recommend that your lawyer is familiar with the location as they will benefit local contacts and insight. It is possible that they would have handled previoushomes in the same road. You would be best advised to use a North London conveyancing solicitor. Second, be sure that the conveyancing firm is on the lender panel. It is estimated that 18% of North London conveyancing transactions are delayed or derailed after finding out that a purchaser’s solicitor was not on their banks list of approved solicitors. In many cases this discovery resulted in the legal transfer of property being delayed by as much as three weeks. It is understood that this issue impacts in the region of 100,000 home sales annually. Many North London conveyancing practices can not represent certain mortgage companies so do check as early as possible.
I have been referred to a conveyancing solicitor in North London. I need to find out whether they are accepted on the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel. Could you advise?
You should call the conveyancer and enquire if they can act for the lender. Otherwise please get in touch with Yorkshire Building Society who may be able to assist.
Can you help - my lawyer says that lack of building regulations insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in North London?
The appropriate level of lack of building regulations indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Halifax and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.
I currently have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in North London. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform HSBC?
You must advise HSBC before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact HSBC directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel firm.
My offer on a detached house in North London has been accepted, the vendors do however have a tied purchase. The sellers have put an offer on somewhere, however it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. I have selected a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in North London. What do I do now? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Yorkshire BS?
It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then survey, North London conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Regarding the next phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market many purchasers will apply for a home loan with Yorkshire BS and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their conveyancer to proceed with searches.
My friend recommended that if I am purchasing in North London I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard North London conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about North London around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the North London Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding North London.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one close by in North London I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in North London in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 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 and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
Am I better off to go with a North London conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can deal with the conveyancing but they are based approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a local North London conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and they were impressed that must surpass using an unknown North London conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.