My husband and I are buying a 3 bedroom flat in Northop with a mortgage. We have a Northop solicitor, however the bank says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or continue with our Northop lawyer and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; can we not demand that the bank use our Northop solicitor ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Northop conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Can the conveyancing lawyers that you recommend handle auction conveyancing in Northop?
There are a few niche lawyers we can connect you with those who can conduct auction conveyancing. Northop is one of our areas of in which our lawyers have a presence.
I am helping my mother sell her property in Northop. Will the solicitor commission an EPC or should I organise this?
After the abolition of HIPs, EPC’s was kept a compulsory element of moving property. An EPC should be to hand before the property is put on the market. This is not a task that lawyers ordinarily organise. If you are using a Northop conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange EPC’s given their relationships with reputable local energy assessors
We had selected conveyancing lawyers based in Northop on the Aldermore solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a supplemental sum for the legal aspects of the Aldermore mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Aldermore?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitor may charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Aldermore but by your Northop solicitor. Plenty of firms on the Aldermore panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
My wife and I have organised the release of further monies on our mortgage from HSBC as we wish to conduct renovations to our home in Northop. Are we obliged to appoint a local Northop solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
HSBC would not normally appoint firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the HSBC panel.
I purchased a terraced Edwardian property in Northop. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to 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 proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Northop and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.
I am looking at a two apartments in Northop which have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Northop is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property 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 a residence 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 Northop conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Northop - Sample of Queries Prior to buying
-
Plenty Northop leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the flat you will have to pay this liability, normally periodically accross the year. This may vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you need to enquire as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. Where a Northop lease has no more than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your bank that they are content with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be eligible to carry out a lease extension. How is the lease structured?
What type of premises does your Northop conveyancing estimates apply to?
Our conveyancing quotes are only applicable to standard domestic property in England & Wales. If you have any different needs for example industrial or agricultural property or commercial conveyancing in Northop do contact us to address this further .