My wife and I are planning to acquire a property in Winchmore Hill and have instructed a Winchmore Hill 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. Santander have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Winchmore Hill solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 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 Winchmore Hill lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in Winchmore Hill
Two types of professional can perform conveyancing in Winchmore Hill namely licenced conveyancers or solicitors. The two can handle the legal services that you need to complete the sale or acquisition of property. They are both duty bound to perform Winchmore Hill conveyancing to the same standards and guidelines so you may be safe in the knowledge that your conveyancing will be professionally conducted and that all necessary procedures will be suitably followed.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Winchmore Hill. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the TSB 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 TSB 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.
About to purchase apartment in Winchmore Hill. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Winchmore Hill solicitor is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel.
The deeds to my house can not be found. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in Winchmore Hill 5 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
As long as the title is registered the details of your proprietorship will be held by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and order up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Winchmore Hill. Conveyancing is daunting 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 legal work.
Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Winchmore Hill
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The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for purchase conveyancing in Winchmore Hill. I happened to stumble upon a site which appears to be the ideal offering If it is possible to get all this stuff completed via phone that would be ideal. Should I be concerned? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Winchmore Hill where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Winchmore Hill conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.
Following months of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Winchmore Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Winchmore Hill conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Winchmore Hill property is First Floor Flat 109 Lyndhurst Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 29th October 2009 the Tribunal decided on a figure of £5,012 for a lease extension. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 81.79 years.