Our grandson is buying a newly built flat in Patcham with a home loan from Nationwide. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
Will my lawyer be raising enquiries about flooding during the conveyancing in Patcham.
Flooding is a growing risk for lawyers dealing with homes in Patcham. There are those who acquire a house in Patcham, fully expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the property. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a various searches that may be initiated by the buyer or by their lawyers which should give them a better appreciation of the risks in Patcham. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual inquiry of the owner to find out if the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past and is not disclosed by the owner, then a buyer could bring a claim for damages as a result of such an incorrect reply. A buyer’s conveyancers will also conduct an environmental report. This should indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be conducted.
I completed on my flat on 8 August and the transaction details are still not registered. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Patcham said it will be registered inside ten days. Are properties in Patcham particularly slow to register?
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Patcham registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can differ according to who lodges the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry need to notify any interested persons or bodies. Currently in the region of 80% of submission are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be longer delays. Registration takes place after the buyer is living at the premises so an expedited registration is not usually top priority yet where there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your lawyers can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Patcham is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Patcham are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Patcham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Patcham may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
I work for a busy estate agent office in Patcham where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Patcham conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I acquired a 2 bed flat in Patcham, conveyancing was carried out in 2008. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Patcham with an extended lease are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2096
You have 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.
My husband and I have recently had an offer accepted on a house and had meeting on Monday with Nationwide for the mortgage. They have informed me that when it comes to appointing a property lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of property lawyers then we will be subject to an an additional charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to appoint a solicitor to act for them as well as the one we choose to act on our behalf and we will be on the hook for their invoice. I have asked Nationwide to provide me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved conveyancers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of Nationwide what their panel criteria is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on mortgages for Nationwide before. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with Nationwide. Another option is to use our search tool and we should be able to locate a conveyancer in Patcham on the panel for Nationwide.