It is a dozen years since I acquired my property in Suffolk. Conveyancing lawyers have now been retained on the sale but I can't locate the deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in all probability the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Suffolk relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more tricky but is resolvable.
I'm the single beneficiary of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the my former home in Suffolk. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in July. I want to move. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership could be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in July. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. Some lenders would take a sensible view as this requirement is chiefly there to pick up on subsales or the flipping of property.
When it comes to lenders such as Skipton, do Suffolk lawyers face a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their panel, although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
I can not fathom if my bank requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Suffolk building society branch on various occasions and was told it wasn't an issue and they will lend. My Suffolk conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called to say that they will not lend based on their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
As long as the lawyer is on the bank panel, she or he must adhere to the CML Handbook specifications for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
I'm buying a new build house in Suffolk with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The property agent told me not inform my solicitor about the extras as it would jeopardize my mortgage with Clydesdale. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Given that I am about to spend 450k on 3 bedroom house in Suffolk I wish to have a conversation with the solicitor about mytransaction in advance of appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?
Absolutely - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the conveyancer who will be doing your conveyancing in Suffolk.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique person, not a file reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are quoted for residential conveyancing in Suffolk should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.
I have just started marketing my garden flat in Suffolk. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the service charge as usual because all ground rent and service payments should be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I bought a split level flat in Suffolk, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Suffolk with an extended lease are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2077
You have 51 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £30,400 and £35,200 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.
My estate agent has suggested using their conveyancing practitioner for our conveyancing in Suffolk - Is it not simpler easier to just use them?
This is not necessarily the case and you are at liberty to instruct whichever lawyer of your choosing for your Suffolk conveyancing. The property lawyer suggested by an estate agent may not necessarily be the right conveyancing practitioner, they may put forward their preferred conveyancing firm who are based remotely. In this instance you may not have contact with your solicitor and due to the lack of continuity in the transaction, it may be difficult to obtain progress reports.