Me and my brother purchased a renovated Georgian property in Rishton. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Halifax. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Rishton and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Rishton with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not inform my solicitor about this extras as it would adversely affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Rishton I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Rishton in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
Given that I am about to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on 3 bedroom house in Rishton I wish to have a conversation with the conveyancer concerning thetransaction prior to instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
Absolutely - we would be delighted to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the solicitor who will be doing your conveyancing in Rishton.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique person, not a file reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for your conveyancing in Rishton should be the figure that you end up paying.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Rishton from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Rishton can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers. A minority of Rishton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 purchasers or their solicitors. If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Rishton state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Where you dont have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand. If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Rishton conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible. If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
I acquired a ground floor flat in Rishton, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Rishton with a long lease are worth £190,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2087
With just 62 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as legals.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Why do Rishton conveyancing costs differ for leasehold and freehold properties?
When acquiring a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control