It is a dozen years since I bought my house in Pickering. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I can't find the title documents. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a chance that the deeds will be with your mortgage company or they may be archived with the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Pickering relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
I am helping my mother sell her flat in Pickering. Will the conveyancer order the energy assessment or should I organise this?
After the abolition of Home Packs, EPC’s became a required element of selling a property. An energy assessment must be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. This is not something that lawyers ordinarily organise. Where you are using a Pickering conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy performance certificates due to their contacts with reputable local providers
I have paid off my mortgage with Santander. I assume I don't need a Pickering conveyancer on the Santander panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Santander 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 Santander mortgage from the register. Santander, 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 Santander has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Santander has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Kent Reliance have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a apartment in Pickering has been agreed to, now what?
Your estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Kent Reliance or the broker and finish off any outstanding paperwork. Kent Reliance will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or owners to book an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a fortnight to get a mortgage offer. Kent Reliance will send the offer to you and your solicitors. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Pickering.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one close by in Pickering I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Pickering for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
Is it best to go with a Pickering conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can handle the legal formalities however they are based 300miles drive away.
The primary upside of using a high street Pickering conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, present your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Pickering know how is a plus. 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 in the main were content that must trump using an unknown Pickering conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being local.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Pickering. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, however I have recently received a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
The sensible thing to do is pay the invoice as you normally would because all rents and maintenance invoices will be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I purchased a basement flat in Pickering, conveyancing having been completed in 2005. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Pickering with a long lease are worth £179,000. The ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2081
With 57 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £26,600 and £30,800 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Do online conveyancing organisations do everything a high street Pickering solicitor does or do I still need to employ a solicitor for the final stages for my conveyancing in Pickering?
Where you use an online conveyancer they should cover all the tasks your Pickering conveyancer would cover.