We are about to complete on the purchase of a property in Southfields but as a consequence of damage from a small fire at the property I have managed to agree reparation from the owner of three thousand pounds in the form of a adjustment in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of a side agreement yet Principality are not allowing this. Should they have been involved?
Your solicitor that is on a Principality approved list is duty bound to disclose to Principality of any amendments to the sale price. If you prohibit your conveyancing practitioner to notify the price change to Principality then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Principality and you would have to appoint a new conveyancing practitioner for your conveyancing in Southfields.
My stepmother advised me that in buying a property in Southfields there may be various restrictions preventing external changes to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Southfields which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Southfields should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Southfields. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Not long after, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale 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.
Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Southfields solicitor - who is on the Principality conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Southfields surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I have been told that property searches are the primary cause of obstruction in Southfields house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Southfields.
It has been 2 months since my purchase conveyancing in Southfields took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I am purchasing a new build house in Southfields with a mortgage from Accord Mortgages Ltd. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep advised me not inform my conveyancer about this deal as it will affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I am attracted to a couple of flats in Southfields which have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?
A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorates and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field.
Having spent months of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southfields. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Southfields conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Southfields property is 83 Balvernie Grove in February 2012. The Tribunal assessed the price to be paid by the leaseholder to the freeholder for the lease extension pursuant to section 48 of the Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 should be£16,603.00 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 69.32 years.