It is is a decade since I acquired my home in St Brides Major. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate my title deeds. Is this a problem?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be kept by the mortgage company or they may still be with the conveyancers who handled your purchase. Secondly in all probability the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in St Brides Major involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.
The St Brides Major conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in St Brides Major have without warning closed. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel and my family St Brides Major lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would 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 HSBC 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 solicitors should be in a position to assist.
A relative recommended that where I am purchasing in St Brides Major I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard St Brides Major conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about St Brides Major around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning St Brides Major.
How does conveyancing in St Brides Major differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in St Brides Major contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because developers in St Brides Major 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 property lawyers 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 St Brides Major or who has acted in the same development.
Am I best advised to choose a St Brides Major conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am buying? We have a good friend who can perform the legal formalities but his firm is located a couple of hundredmiles away.
The benefit of a local St Brides Major conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to execute paperwork, present your ID and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and the majority were impressed that must trump using an unknown St Brides Major conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.
We expect to complete the sale of our £125,000 flat in St Brides Major next week. The freeholder has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in St Brides Major?
St Brides Major conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes often requires the purchaser’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions the majority will be content to assist. They are at liberty to levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it is above £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.
I purchased a 1st floor flat in St Brides Major, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in St Brides Major with a long lease are worth £202,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2082
You have 56 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £29,500 and £34,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.