Can your site be used to find a Conveyancing solicitor in Seascale even if I’m not purchasing or selling a house, for instance where I wish to acquire a shop in Seascale with a mortgage from Barclays Direct?
The service is primarily there to help choose residential conveyancing solicitors in Seascale but we have recorded towards the end of this page a few Seascale commercial conveyancing firms. You should speak with the solicitors directly to establish if they can also act for Barclays Direct
I am buying a detached bungalow in Seascale. The intention is to an extension at the rear at the property.Will legal work on the property involve investigations to ascertain if these works were previously refused?
Your solicitor should check the deeds as conveyancing in Seascale can occasionally identify restrictions in the title documents which prohibit categories of changes or necessitated the consent of a 3rd party. Many works require local authority planning permissions and approval under the building regulations. Certain locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or affect extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor before you commit yourself to a purchase.
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from Barclays as we want to conduct improvements to our house in Seascale. Do we need to appoint a local Seascale solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Barclays don't usually require a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Barclays panel.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Seascale. I have a mortgage offer with Nationwide. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.
I have justbeen informed that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Seascale for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is in my name in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way to check if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Seascale conveyancing specialists.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £195,000 and found one close by in Seascale I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Seascale suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Seascale from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Seascale can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ solicitors. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Seascale conveyancing deal. Where a new share is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible. A minority of Seascale leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled. You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Seascale, conveyancing formalities finalised November 2005. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Seascale with a long lease are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2091
You have 66 years unexpired the likely cost is going to be between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.
New build sellers have put forward a solicitor and I've obtained an estimate from them. It's nearly £400 less expensive than my own Seascale conveyancer. Should I use them?
Builders normally have lists of conveyancers who are quick and who know the seller’s contract and conveyancing practitioner. As many developers offer an inducement to use a preferred conveyancer for this reason, any increased fees can be avoided and a developer will not recommend a conveyancing factory and run the risk of having the conveyancing delayed when they require an exchange within a tight time frame. A counter-argument for not agreeing to use the recommended solicitor is that they may prove reluctant to fight for your interests at the risk of upsetting the developer. If you worry that this may be the case you should stick with your high street Seascale solicitor.