I am in the process of selling my maisonette in South Ockendon and the EA has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are appointing a new solicitor. The reason given is that the lender will only engage with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major mortgage company only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in South Ockendon ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Mortgage companies attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
I am buying a property for cash in South Ockendon. I have resided for the last 20 years in South Ockendon. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. Given that I have knowledge of the area and road very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a mortgage, then almost all of the South Ockendon conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will try and sway you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to do this. Do bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house in the future, it will be of interest to your future purchaser what the searches determine. Sometimes properties with functional issues can still throw up adverse search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in South Ockendon will provide you some practical advice concerning this.
I am buying a property and the conveyancer has identified Chancel Repair to which the property could be obligated to pay because it falls into the area of such a church. She has recommended insurance. Is this strictly warranted for conveyancing in South Ockendon
Unless a previous purchase of the property took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect conveyancing practitioners handling conveyancing in South Ockendon to continue to recommend a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Given that I am about to spend 450k on a two bedroom apartment in South Ockendon I would like to talk to a conveyancer concerning theconveyancing prior to appointing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the solicitor who will be carrying out your property ownership legalities in South Ockendon.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique person, not a file number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in South Ockendon should be the figure that you end up paying.
I've recently bought a leasehold flat in South Ockendon. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such matters? Can you recommend a South Ockendon conveyancing firm to help?
if there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a South Ockendon property is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 57.5 years.
My offer on house in South Ockendon has been agreed to, the vendor does however have a connected purchase. The vendors have put an offer on somewhere, although it’s not been accepted yet, and has viewings of other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a local conveyancing lawyer in South Ockendon. What should be my next step? At what point should I apply for the mortgage with TSB?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses too early (home loan application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then valuation, South Ockendon conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the TSB approved list. Concerning the subsequent phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot market some home buyers would apply for the mortgage with TSB and arrange for the survey and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their lawyer to press on with the conveyancing in South Ockendon.