My fiance and I are looking to purchase a flat in St James and are in fact using a St James conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Aldermore have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our St James lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred St James lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My partner and I have lately bought a property in St James. We have since encountered a number of problems with the property which we believe were omitted in the conveyancing searches. Do we have any recourse? What searches should? have been ordered for conveyancing in St James?
It is not clear from the question as to the nature of the problems and if they are relate to conveyancing in St James. Conveyancing searches and due diligence undertaken as part of the legal transfer of property are carried out to help avoid problems. As part of the process, the vendor completes a questionnaire known as a SPIF. If the information provided is incorrect, you may have a misrepresentation claim against the owner for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in St James.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in St James? What am I being asked for?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the ID of the person or body they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing retainer. The Terms of Engagement that you need to sign should confirm this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. Where you refuse to supply ID verification documents, your lawyer would not be able to act for you.
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of stalling in St James house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in St James.
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in St James. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in St James - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I am the leaseholder of a a ground floor purpose built flat in St James. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a St James conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St James flat is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 56 years.
I'm buying a property in St James. I have found my conveyancer's company on the Law Society's list, but I can't see my conveyancer's name on the list. Is this a big problem?
Not every individual in the law firm must be listed by the regulator. As long there is someone qualified to 'oversee' the work, the actual day-to-day activity can be undertaken by unlicensed staff.