My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in St John's Wood and are in fact using a St John's Wood conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Halifax have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our St John's Wood solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred St John's Wood lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unexperienced as a first time buyer of a garden flat in St John's Wood. Do I collect the keys to the house on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in St John's Wood?
On the day of completion you do not need to go to the conveyancers office in St John's Wood. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be able to collect the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I happen to be the sole recipient of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in St John's Wood. The St John's Wood property was put into my name in July. I plan to dispose of the house. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship will be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in July. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?
The CML handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be impacted by that. Most mortgage companies would take a practical view as this clause primarily exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
My husband and I are in the process of looking at apartments in St John's Wood and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a conveyancer in place at this stage? I am planning to take a mortgage with Lloyds.
It would be wise to start your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the EA. As you are seeking a mortgage with Lloyds, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
My colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in St John's Wood I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your St John's Wood conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about St John's Wood 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 Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about St John's Wood.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in St John's Wood I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St John's Wood suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
I am using a search engine for the phrase conveyancing in St John's Wood it shows results of many property lawyersin the area. How do I determine which is the suitable solicitor for the sale of my house?
The preferential method of choosing a suitable conveyancer is via personal testimonial, so seek the counsel of colleagues and family who have bought a property in St John's Wood or a local estate agent or mortgage broker. Fees for conveyancing in St John's Wood vary, so it's advisable to request at least three quotes from different solicitors. Make sure that you know what costs in the quote includes.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in St John's Wood from the perspective of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in St John's Wood can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers. If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? St John's Wood leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you fail to have the consents in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer before hand. Some St John's Wood leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a St John's Wood home move. If a new share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such matters? Can you recommend a St John's Wood conveyancing firm to represent me?
Where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St John's Wood flat is Garden Flat 195 Goldhurst Terrace in May 2012. The Tribunal held in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be £60,855.00. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 60.16 years.