Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in St Nicholas costs more?
St Nicholas leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving applicable notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
Can I be sure that the St Nicholas conveyancing solicitor on the Barclays panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in St Nicholas obtaining recommendations is a good starting point. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one advertising the lowest fees. We would always advise that you speak with the solicitor conducting your conveyancing.
I am purchasing a property in St Nicholas. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. HSBC have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is HSBC your lawyer must check the conveyancing requirements contained in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for HSBC. The CML Handbook contains minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to HSBC where a lease fails to satisfy these provisions. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to St Nicholas.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in St Nicholas. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £150. A couple of days later, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Coventry BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in St Nicholas?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in St Nicholas. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am buying a new build house in St Nicholas with a loan from TSB. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could affect my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. St Nicholas is where the house is located. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in St Nicholas are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in St Nicholas you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Nicholas may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
Am I best advised to choose a St Nicholas conveyancing lawyer based in the location that I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can carry out the conveyancing but her office is approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a high street St Nicholas conveyancing practice is that you can attend the office to execute paperwork, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who instructed your friend and the majority were impressed that must trump using an unfamiliar St Nicholas conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.