My fiance and I are planning to acquire a house in West Heath and have instructed a West Heath conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our West Heath lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own West Heath solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can the conveyancing lawyers via your comparison service perform conveyancing in West Heath by way of an attended exchange?
We do have a number of conveyancing experts carrying out attended exchanges. Do e-mail us to obtain a costs illustration and details as to dates.
I am buying a new build apartment in West Heath. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in West Heath
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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. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. 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.
I have been advised by three or four local selling agents in West Heath to select a solicitor on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to offer any financial incentive for directing people in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in West Heath. Conveyancing solicitors have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?
The majority of houses in West Heath are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in West Heath so you should seriously consider looking for a West Heath conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.
Having spent years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West Heath. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a West Heath flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.
I am due to assess quotes for conveyancing in West Heath from three conveyancer and choose one. Should I ask them to hold tight until I a suitable house to buy.
You should wait to ask your conveyancing practitioner to open a file and apply for searches after the offer has been agreed to on the property particularly as West Heath conveyancing searches are costly.