I have just been advised by my lender that my West Heath lawyer is not on the lender Conveyancing panel. How can I be certain if this is indeed the case?
The best course of action for you to take is to call your West Heath conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to notify you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.
Can the conveyancing lawyers identified through your search tool handle auction conveyancing in West Heath?
We know of a number of niche lawyers we can put you in touch with those specialising in auction conveyancing. West Heath is one of the many locations in which our lawyers cover.
We see that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I retain them for our own conveyancing in West Heath?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in West Heath.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in West Heath for our home move. Our financial adviser informed us that our bank Accord Mortgages Ltd won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
Banks normally imposes restrictions either the category or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their member panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the profile of firm, some have decided to limit the amount of firms they allow to act for them. Be aware that Accord Mortgages Ltd have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Accord Mortgages Ltd Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of solicitor panels a few years ago even though there are differing views regarding the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms, including some in or near West Heath only carry out very few conveyances per annum.
My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Georgian house in West Heath. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Bank of Scotland to clarify?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in West Heath and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in West Heath where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local West Heath conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in West Heath. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
if there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the price.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a West Heath property 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 number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 76 years.