My partner and I are hoping to purchase a flat in Redcar and have appointed a Redcar conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Redcar conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Redcar lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My son is purchasing a newly built flat in Redcar with a mortgage from HSBC. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the HSBC 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 HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
Should my conveyancer be asking questions regarding flooding during the conveyancing in Redcar.
Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Redcar. Plenty of people will purchase a property in Redcar, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the property. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that may be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Redcar. The standard property information forms supplied to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a standard question of the owner to determine whether the property has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the owner, then a purchaser could issue a compensation claim stemming from an incorrect answer. A purchaser’s solicitors may also order an environmental report. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further investigations should be made.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Redcar I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Redcar in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
How can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my business premises in Redcar and how can your lawyers assist?
The particular law that you refer to affords security of tenure to business lessees, giving them the dueness to apply to court for a continuation of occupancy at the end of the lease term. There are limited grounds that a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. Redcar is one of the numerous areas of the UK in which our lawyers are located
I work for a reputable estate agency in Redcar where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Redcar conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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 extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Redcar - A selection of Queries Prior to buying
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Make sure you enquire if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. By way of example it is fairly common in Redcar leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Redcar. If you love the propertyin Redcar however your cat can’t live with you then you have a very difficult determination. The majority of Redcar leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced on behalf of the management company. If you buy the flat you will have to pay this contribution, usually periodically throughout the year. This may differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. For most Redcar leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be built into the maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Redcar require tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for larger works.