When will exchange of contracts occur in domestic conveyancing in Prudhoe and do I need to be at the solicitors branch?
Where you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Prudhoe you are welcome to attend to sign documents. However, the lender approved solicitors we recommend offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when dealing with you by post or email. The executing of the property agreement is not the important part. Signing on the dotted line simply enables the solicitor to officially exchange at the appropriate time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is is usually a five minute process, although where a long "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Prudhoe)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
This question may be naive but I am new to the home moving as a 1st time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Prudhoe. Do I receive the keys to the house on the completion date from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Prudhoe?
On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Prudhoe. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the completion advance to the seller's solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be invited to collect the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
My wife and I purchasing a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Prudhoe. We would like to carry out a loft conversion at the house.Will legal work on the property involve investigations to ascertain if these works are allowed?
Your property lawyer should check the registered title as conveyancing in Prudhoe will on occasion reveal restrictions in the title documents which prohibit certain changes or necessitated the permission of another owner. Certain works require local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Many areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with UBS. I assume I don't need a Prudhoe solicitor on the UBS panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your UBS 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 UBS mortgage from the register. UBS, 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 UBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- UBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Will my solicitor be making enquiries concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Prudhoe.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers conducting conveyancing in Prudhoe. There are those who purchase a property in Prudhoe, completely aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous searches that can be carried out by the buyer or by their lawyers which should give them a better appreciation of the risks in Prudhoe. The standard property information forms given to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual question of the seller to discover whether the property has suffered from flooding. If the property has been flooded in past which is not disclosed by the vendor, then a purchaser could commence a legal claim for losses resulting from an incorrect answer. The purchaser’s conveyancers may also conduct an environmental search. This should disclose whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further investigations will need to be conducted.
How does conveyancing in Prudhoe differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Prudhoe contact us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Prudhoe typically buy the real estate, 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 property lawyers 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Prudhoe or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Prudhoe is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Prudhoe are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Prudhoe you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Prudhoe may decide 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 premises.
I work for a reputable estate agency in Prudhoe where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Prudhoe conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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.
Prudhoe Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing
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Many Prudhoe leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the apartment you will have to pay this amount, usually periodically accross the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say about £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it could be surprisingly expensive. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability? How is the lease structured?