My wife and I are planning to buy a property in Rugeley and are in fact using a Rugeley conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Birmingham Midshires have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Rugeley solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Rugeley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Will my solicitor be making enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Rugeley.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers carrying out conveyancing in Rugeley. Some people will purchase a house in Rugeley, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or dispose of the property. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a numerous checks that may be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Rugeley. The conventional set of property information forms supplied to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a standard question of the seller to discover whether the premises has suffered from flooding. If the property has been flooded in past and is not notified by the seller, then a purchaser may bring a compensation claim resulting from an inaccurate reply. A purchaser’s conveyancers will also commission an environmental report. This will indicate whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further investigations will need to be conducted.
Me and my brother purchased a semi-detached Victorian property in Rugeley. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and The Mortgage Works. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Rugeley and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Rugeley is where the house is located. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in Rugeley are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Rugeley you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Rugeley may determine 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 residence.
We're first time buyers - agreed a price, but the estate agent advised that the owners will only proceed if we instruct the agent's preferred conveyancers as they need a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local conveyancer who is familiar with conveyancing in Rugeley
It is improbable the vendors are behind this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a serious buyer is counter productive. Contact the sellers directly and explain that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you are going to instruct your preferred Rugeley conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide their negotiator at the agency a kickback or hit his conveyancing figures pre-set by HQ.
Back In 2002, I bought a leasehold flat in Rugeley. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Rugeley who previously acted has long since retired. What should I do?
The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a Rugeley conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
Rugeley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying
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The majority of Rugeley leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the landlord. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this charge, normally quarterly throughout the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. It would be wise to find out as much as possible concerning the managing agents as they can either make your life much simpler or uncomfortable. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day matters like the tidiness of the common parts. Enquire of other tenants what they think of them. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the appropriate party and precisely what it includes. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments?