It is a dozen years since I acquired my home in Wigston. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be kept by your lender or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who acted in your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Wigston relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
The Wigston conveyancing firm that just started acting on my house acquisition in Wigston have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Co-operative conveyancing panel and my preferred Wigston lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
is it true that all Wigston conveyancing solicitors on the TSB conveyancing panel are regulated by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the TSB conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I have paid off my mortgage with Barclays. I assume I don't need a Wigston solicitor on the Barclays panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Barclays mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Barclays mortgage from the register. Barclays, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Barclays has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Barclays has instructed the Land Registry to do so
It is unclear whether my bank requires a lease extension. I have telephoned my Wigston bank branch on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My Wigston conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called to say that they would not lend based on their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?
Provided that the conveyancing practitioner is on the lender approved list, she or he must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank 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.
Me and my brother own a semi-detached Edwardian house in Wigston. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to read 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 Wigston and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Wigston. Conveyancing is daunting 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 legal work.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Wigston
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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. Please supply a car parking plan. 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. 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. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.
Due to complete next month on a basement flat in Wigston. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Wigston should include some of the following:
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Who has the liability to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible the repair and maintenance of all parts of the block and communal areas Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business You need to be informed what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease You should have a good understanding of the insurance requirements Who has the liability for maintaining the window frames
I own a 1st floor flat in Wigston, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in Wigston with a long lease are worth £211,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2093
With 68 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.