I am getting a mortgage offer from Nat West. I intend to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in St Mary Cray. Does the Nat West Conveyancing panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?
The Nat West conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
Why do I have to pay up front when it comes to conveyancing in St Mary Cray?
If you are buying a property in St Mary Cray your solicitor will request that you to provide them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is as part of the purchase price then this should be needed immediately in advance of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer shortly before completion.
I am buying a house and the solicitor has identified Chancel Repair for which the property may be liable given it’s proximity to the area of such a church. She has mentioned insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in St Mary Cray
Unless a previous acquisition of the house completed after 12 October 2013 you may expect conveyancing practitioners conducting conveyancing in St Mary Cray to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in St Mary Cray I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in St Mary Cray in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in St Mary Cray where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in St Mary Cray. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?
Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Mary Cray property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 50.57 years.
We are in the middle of purchasing a property in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing solicitor has called to say the title is "Leasehold". Should this adversely affect our mortgage valuation?
St Mary Cray conveyancing does not ordinarily involve leasehold houses. The crucial factor here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If there are over a hundred years remaining with a peppercorn rent, it's essentially freehold, so it shouldn't impact the value too much.
On the flip side, if it's, say, fifty five years it is bound to have a material effect on the saleability, and most likely wouldn't be acceptable to the bank. The length of lease and ground rent will be specified in the lease which should be made available to your solicitor.