My fiance and I are looking to buy a house in Sheen Park and are in fact using a Sheen Park conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Sheen Park conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Sheen Park 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.
I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a relatively new development (seven years built) in Sheen Park. 95% of the flats have already been sold. Is it really necessary to order conveyancing searches as part of conveyancing in Sheen Park?
You would be opening yourself up to an unnecessary risk in failing carrying out Sheen Park conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying without a mortgage there is no legal requirement to have them, but we would seriously advise in no uncertain terms that your conveyancer conducts them. Where timings and price are primary issues you should consider with your lawyer about the possibility of search insurance
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of stalling in Sheen Park house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Sheen Park.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Sheen Park. 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.
Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Sheen Park
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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. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants.
I decided to have a survey carried out on a property in Sheen Park before appointing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may not give a mortgage on a flying freehold premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you call us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Sheen Park. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Sheen Park especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Sheen Park.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Sheen Park conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Sheen Park conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Sheen Park conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be of use:
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If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason? How many lease extensions have they conducted in Sheen Park in the last twenty four months?
Having spent months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Sheen Park. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the premium.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Sheen Park flat is 19 St. Margarets Crescent in August 2010. the tribunal was of the view that the premium to be paid by the leaseholder for the freehold reversion was £51,983.00 This case related to 3 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 66.25 years.