My wife and I are hoping to purchase a home in Spilsby and have instructed a Spilsby conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Spilsby conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Spilsby lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The Spilsby conveyancing firm handling our Spilsby conveyancing has identified a discrepancy between the surveyor’s assumptions in the home valuation report and what is revealed within the title deeds. My lawyer informs me that he needs to ensure that the lender is OK with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my conveyancer’s stance legitimate?
Your conveyancing practitioner must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
When will exchange of contracts happen for purchase conveyancing in Spilsby and do I need to attend the conveyancers office?
If you are near to our conveyancing solicitors in Spilsby you are welcome to attend to sign documents. However, the firms we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the purchase agreement is not when everything is set in stone. Signing on the dotted line is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is is usually a five minute process, although where a lengthy "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Spilsby)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
My wife and I purchased a semi-detached Victorian property in Spilsby. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Santander. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should assess 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 proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Spilsby and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
How does conveyancing in Spilsby differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Spilsby approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because developers in Spilsby typically purchase the site, 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 Spilsby or who has acted in the same development.
I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Spilsby. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have recently had a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?
The sensible thing to do is clear the service charge as usual because all ground rent and maintenance invoices will be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
Spilsby Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing
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How much is the ground rent and service charge? You should be aware that where the lease has less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the premises for 24 months in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments?