My property lawyer in Onslow Village is not listed on the Skipton Building Society Solicitor Panel. Can I still continue with my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Skipton Building Society approved list?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Onslow Village solicitors but Skipton Building Society will need to instruct a conveyancer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing charges as well as result in frustration.
- Find an alternative solicitor to act in the conveyancing, not forgetting to check they are on the Skipton Building Society panel
We are getting the release of further funds on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we wish to conduct renovations to our property in Onslow Village. Do we need to choose a nearby Onslow Village solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Bank of Ireland don't usually instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Onslow Village. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an advanced payment of £200. A few days later, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS 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.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Onslow Village on 8/6/2026, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Barclays and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Barclays to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I have been told that property searches are the number one reason for hinderance in Onslow Village house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Onslow Village.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Onslow Village?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Onslow Village. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am purchasing my first flat in Onslow Village benefiting from help to buy. The sellers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative suggested that I not disclose to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it may impact my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Onslow Village which have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Onslow Village is a wasting 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. The majority of purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. 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 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 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 Onslow Village 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 the agreed 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.
I bought a leasehold flat in Onslow Village, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Onslow Village with a long lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2080
You have 54 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £31,400 and £36,200 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.