My husband and I are buying a newly constructed flat in Orpington and my lawyer is informing me that she is duty bound to the lender to disclose incentives from the seller. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I have no desire to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My husband and I are hoping to buy a 3 bedroom apartment in Orpington with a mortgage from Barnsley Building Society.We like our Orpington conveyancing practitioner but Barnsley Building Society advised that his firm is not on their "panel". We have to appoint a Barnsley Building Society panel solicitor or keep our high street solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you contains various provisions, a common one being that lawyers needs to be on the Barnsley Building Society approved list. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find 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. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Barnsley Building Society
I acquired my flat on 6 August and my personal details are still not registered. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Orpington said it would be recorded inside ten days. Are titles in Orpington particularly slow to register?
As far as conveyancing in Orpington registration is no faster or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can differ according to who lodges the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry must send notices to any interested persons or bodies. Currently roughly three quarters of submission are fully dealt with within 12 days but occasionally there can be extensive delays. Historically registration takes place once the buyer is living at the premises thus an expedited registration is not typically primary concern yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.
How does conveyancing in Orpington differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Orpington contact us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because house builders in Orpington typically acquire the land, 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 used to new build conveyancing in Orpington or who has acted in the same development.
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Orpington both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?
There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Orpington is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than 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 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 Orpington 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. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. 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 have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Orpington conveyancing firm to help?
if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Orpington flat is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.
We own a leasehold flat in Orpington. Conveyancing was completed in 2010. I have heard that I should not let the the remaining lease term to get too short. What is the reasoning?
Orpington domestic long term leases are for a set period - normally ninety nine years when they started. However a significant flats in Orpington were constructed or converted 35 or more years ago and so these leases now have under 80 years left to run. This may seem like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies generally require leases to have a minimum of 75 years remaining to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are nearing 75 years. To enhance the marketability of your property you should be considering whether or not to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. Furthermore advantages to taking action before the lease hits 80 years as when the lease is below eighty years the amount you have to pay to extend starts to increase.