I am hoping to receive a offer of a home loan from Santander. I hope to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Penshaw. Does the Santander Solicitor panel include Licensed Conveyancers?
The Santander approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in Penshaw what would it be?
We would encourage you not to go for the lowest Penshaw conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
My uncle advised me that in purchasing a property in Penshaw there may be various restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are anumerous of properties in Penshaw which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Penshaw should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
How can we know in advance if a Penshaw conveyancing solicitor on the Skipton panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in Penshaw getting recommendations is a good starting point. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one advertising the lowest fees. We would always suggest that you speak with the lawyer handling your transaction.
A relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Penshaw I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Penshaw conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Penshaw around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Penshaw Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type 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 Penshaw.
I am buying a new build house in Penshaw with a loan from Lloyds TSB Bank. The builders refused to move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could jeopardize my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
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.
Am I better off to use a Penshaw conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? An old friend can execute the legal work but his firm is located 200miles drive away.
The benefit of a high street Penshaw conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to execute paperwork, present your ID and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have used your friend and they were content that must trump using an unknown Penshaw conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being round the corner.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Penshaw from the point of view of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Penshaw can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved. A minority of Penshaw leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Penshaw - Sample of Queries before buying
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Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the building? Plenty Penshaw leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block levied by the management company. Where you buy the property you will have to pay this amount, usually quarterly accross the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds. Does this lease have in excess of 85 years left?