My husband and I are hoping to buy a flat in Wareham and are in fact using a Wareham conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Wareham solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 bank 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Wareham 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 purchasing a house without a mortgage in Wareham. I have resided for the last 20 years in Wareham. Conveyancing searches are expensive. Given that I know the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
In the absence of a mortgage, then all but one or two of the Wareham conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but he is duty bound to do this. Do consider; if you are going to sell the house at a future date, it will be of importance to your prospective purchaser what the searches contain. There are plenty of instances where premises with no practical issues can still throw up unexpected search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Wareham should be able to give you some practical guidance here.
I have been referred to a conveyancing solicitor in Wareham. I need to find out if they are on the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel. Could you assist?
The first thing to do is call your lawyer and enquire if they are on the lender panel. Otherwise please get in touch with Yorkshire Building Society who may be able to help.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Wareham. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Wareham
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Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.
I was pointed in your direction by two or three local estate agents in Wareham to find a property lawyer on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to market your lawyers over another?
We don’t offer any commission for sending work our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Wareham with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Wareham can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ representatives. If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Wareham state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance. If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing. 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 purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
Wareham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying
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Does the lease have more than 90 years unexpired? The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is usually retained if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders.