I purchased a freehold residence in Robertsbridge but nevertheless pay rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Robertsbridge and has limited impact for conveyancing in Robertsbridge but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges date back many centuries, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the generation of fresh rentcharges from 1977 onwards.
Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a one off payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 will be extinguished.
Does a directory service exist listing TSB panel solicitors in Robertsbridge on the Building Society Association’s Website?
Unfortunately not yet. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association sites. Very few banks make their panel listings open the public online. Where you are looking for a Robertsbridge solicitor on the TSB please make the most of our facility.
My wife and I have organised the release of further monies on our mortgage from Skipton as we want to carry out improvements to our property in Robertsbridge. Are we obliged to choose a nearby Robertsbridge solicitor on the Skipton conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Skipton would not normally require firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Skipton list.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Robertsbridge. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Not long after, the property lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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.
The deeds to my home can not be found. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Robertsbridge 4 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?
Assuming you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be retained by HMLR under a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and obtain current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases retain a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
I am buying a new build apartment in Robertsbridge. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Robertsbridge
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The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Robertsbridge where we see a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Robertsbridge conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is 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.
I own a 1st floor flat in Robertsbridge, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen 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 Robertsbridge with over 90 years remaining are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2093
With just 68 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.
We have been told by various family members that it should take 6-8 weeks for Robertsbridge conveyancing to complete.This was four weeks ago. The draft contract was only sent to my conveyancer yesterday so now does it countdown?
You need to be pragmatic about timescales. Moving home in Robertsbridge usually takes about ten weeks. This timeframe is not due to conveyancing practitioner being slow and purposely delay matters. The level of money involved in purchasing any residence is so high, the buyer’s conveyancing practitioner having to raise a whole range of enquiries, searches and other checks to protect the purchaser and their lender (if there is to be a home loan) from expensive, avoidable problems. These investigations involves getting information from an array of different parties, for example other conveyancer, local councils, private companies, lenders. Many of these are efficient. Plenty aren't. Finally, no matter how quickly your solicitor do their job, if the people you are purchasing from or are selling to aren't ready, nothing can move forward until they are up to speed.