We're in Sea Mills, First time buyers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Leeds Building Society , and our solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Sea Mills with a mortgage from TSB. The builders refused to move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my conveyancer about this deal as it will impact my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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 ground for flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Sea Mills I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Sea Mills in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
I was advised by a few estate agents in Sea Mills to select a solicitor on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to promote your services over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
We're FTB’s - had an offer accepted, but the property agent informed us that the vendor will only proceed if we use their chosen solicitors as they need a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street solicitor used to conveyancing in Sea Mills
We suspect that the seller is not behind this request. Should the seller require ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to go, with finances in place © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you intend to appoint your own,trusted Sea Mills conveyancing lawyers - as opposed tothe ones that will give their negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or achieve conveyancing figures pre-set by HQ.
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Sea Mills where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Sea Mills conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
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 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.
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 purchaser.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Sea Mills - Sample of Queries before buying
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How long is the Lease? For most Sea Mills leaseholds the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Sea Mills require leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger works. What is the service charge and ground rent on the flat?