My lawyer has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Petworth. The seller’s lawyers have offered title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our lawyer has advised that he must ensure that the mortgage company is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the mortgage company are the client. Your lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
We note that you have a search directory identifying law firms on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a commission if I retain them for our conveyancing in Petworth?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Petworth.
I happen to be the sole recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Petworth. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in August. I plan to dispose of the property. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership could be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the house in August. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be caught by that. How sensible a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the bank as this provision principally exists to capture subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
I have paid off my mortgage with Yorkshire BS. I assume I don't need a Petworth property lawyer on the Yorkshire BS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Yorkshire BS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Yorkshire BS mortgage from the register. Yorkshire BS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Yorkshire BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Yorkshire BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Petworth. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £200. Shortly after, the conveyancer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Principality 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 Principality 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.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Petworth?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Petworth. 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…’
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Petworth I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Petworth for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Petworth conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Petworth conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggest that you speak with several firms including non Petworth conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions might be helpful:
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How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation? What are the legal fees for lease extension work?
Petworth Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants enjoy control and although a managing agent is frequently employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Be sure to enquire if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For example it is reasonably common in Petworth leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Petworth. If you like the flatin Petworth however your dog is not allowed to move with you then you will be presented with a difficult choice. Is anyone aware of any major works anticipated that will likely increase the maintenance costs?