My wife and I are looking to acquire a home in Swansea and have appointed a Swansea conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Swansea solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Swansea lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a fairly new development (five years built) in Swansea. Almost all the properties are already occupied. Do I need carry out the neighbourhood searches for my conveyancing in Swansea?
You are putting yourself at risk in not carrying out Swansea conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying mortgage free there is no legal necessity to have them, but we would strongly advise in no uncertain terms that your lawyer conducts them. Where speed and cost are top of your concerns you should discuss with your solicitor about the viability of search insurance
My wife and I purchasing a terrace house in Swansea. We would like to carry out an extension to the side at the house.Will the conveyancing process involve checks to determine if these alterations were previously refused?
Your conveyancer will review the registered title as conveyancing in Swansea can occasionally identify restrictions in the title documents which restrict certain alterations or necessitated the consent of another owner. Certain extensions require local authority planning permissions and approval in accordance building regulations. Many locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. You should check these things with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Swansea. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Santander be concerned?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Santander your lawyer must check the formal instructions outlined in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Santander. The CML Handbook stipulates minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Santander where a lease fails to satisfy these specifications. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not isolated to Swansea.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Swansea. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. A few days later, the solicitor called me to say that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
five months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Swansea completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in Swansea differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Swansea approach us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because builders in Swansea tend to buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Swansea or who has acted in the same development.
Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Swansea. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.
Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Swansea - 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 purchased a garden flat in Swansea, conveyancing formalities finalised June 1995. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Swansea with an extended lease are worth £191,000. The ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2079
With just 54 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £31,400 and £36,200 plus legals.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.