My partner and I are intent on acquiring a ground floor flat in South Kensington. My lawyer is not listed on the bank approved panel. Can I still appoint my South Kensington conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank panel?
Various options include
- Complete the deal with your preferred South Kensington property lawyer but your mortgage company will undoubtedly use a conveyancing practitioner from their approved list. This will result in additional fees together with likely interruption.
- Get a fresh conveyancer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to attempt to join the bank panel
As someone not used to conveyancing in South Kensington what’s your top tip you can impart concerning the house moving process in South Kensington
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in South Kensington or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for conflict between you and others involved in the ownership transfer. For example, the vendor, property agent and even potentially the lender. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in South Kensington an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the process whose interest is to protect your legal interests and to protect you.
Sometimes a potential adversary will try and convince you that you should follow their advice. For instance, the estate agent may claim to be helping by suggesting your solicitor is dragging his heels. Or your mortgage broker may try to convince you to do something that is contrary to your solicitors recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in South Kensington?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in South Kensington. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I'm converting the mortgage on my current home to a buy to let loan with Accord Mortgages Ltd and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on another house. The area we are talking about is South Kensington. Will your conveyancers be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and tie in the conveyances?
Make use of our comparison tool on this page to be sure that the solicitors are on the appropriate lender panels. Having checked that they are your lawyer should be able to connect the two deals but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make apparent your expectations and needs.
My husband and I are one month into a leasehold purchase having been recommend to solicitors by the estate agent to carry out the conveyancing in South Kensington. I am am starting to be dissatisfied with the level of service. Could you you assist me in finding new lawyers?
They would need to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the mortgage been sent? In the event that it has you will need to advise them of the replacement conveyancer and have the loan are issued to the new lawyers. Your new solicitor ideally should be on the banks approved list to avoid escalating fees and complications. That should be your first question of the new conveyancers. Our search tool will assist you in finding a lender approved solicitor for your home move in South Kensington
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Kensington with the aim of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Kensington can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ lawyers. Many landlords or Management Companies in South Kensington levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Kensington. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a South Kensington conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? South Kensington leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
I am the registered owner of a second floor flat in South Kensington. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?
in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a South Kensington property is Flat 16 21/22 Stanhope Gardens in November 2010. the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal concluded that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, was £106,975 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 51.93 years.