The Shifnal conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Shifnal have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the RBS conveyancing panel and my family Shifnal lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the RBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
I am assisting my mother sell her house in Shifnal. Will the conveyancer order the EPC or should I organise this?
After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s was kept a mandatory element of selling a house. An energy performance certificate needs to be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. It is not something that lawyers ordinarily organise. Where you are using a Shifnal conveyancing lawyer they might be able to arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with reputable local energy assessors
Is it the case that all Shifnal solicitor practices on the Principality conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Principality conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Shifnal. My financial adviser suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
My wife and I purchased a 4 bedroom Victorian property in Shifnal. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Yorkshire Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 Shifnal and other locations in 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 lenders. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
How does conveyancing in Shifnal differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Shifnal come to us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because developers in Shifnal tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Shifnal or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Shifnal is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Shifnal are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Shifnal you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Shifnal may ascertain 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.
I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Shifnal where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Shifnal conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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.
Shifnal Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing
-
What is the the remaining lease term? Many Shifnal leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for maintenance of the building levied by the landlord. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to pay this liability, usually periodically accross the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say around £25-£75 but you need to check as occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in Shifnal ask leaseholders to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger repairs or maintenance.