As a novice what is the most important number one tip you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Wokingham?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Wokingham and elsewhere in Berkshire is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of room for conflict between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For example, the seller, property agent and even potentially the bank. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Wokingham is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the legal process whose responsibility is to look after your legal interests and to keep you safe.
There is a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be blamed for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you should always trust your solicitor above the other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
We are purchasing a apartment in Wokingham. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On completion day we will need to send funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
I'm the sole recipient of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Wokingham. The Wokingham property was put into my name in December. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the property in December. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be impacted by that. How practical a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the mortgage company as this obligation primarily exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Wokingham conveyancer having checked that they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Barclays will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Barclays will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Wokingham surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Should our conveyancer be raising questions concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Wokingham.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers dealing with homes in Wokingham. There are those who purchase a house in Wokingham, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the property. Steps can be carried out during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that may be undertaken by the buyer or by their conveyancers which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in Wokingham. The standard completed inquiry forms given to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard question of the owner to find out if the property has historically flooded. In the event that flooding has previously occurred which is not notified by the vendor, then a purchaser may issue a claim for damages as a result of such an misleading response. The buyer’s lawyers should also carry out an environmental search. This will indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further investigations will need to be initiated.
I purchased a renovated Victorian house in Wokingham. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Barclays Direct. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Wokingham and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Wokingham is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Wokingham are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Wokingham you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Wokingham may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I'm remortgaging my existing house to a buy to let mortgage with Lloyds TSB Bank and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on a second property. The location we are interested in is Wokingham. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of lenders and tie in the conveyances?
Do use our comparison tool on this site to check that the lawyers are approved by both lenders. On the basis that they are your conveyancer will be able to simultaneously deal with the two conveyancing matters but you should talk with you solicitor and specify your desired outcome and requirements.