My husband and I are looking to acquire a home in Woodcote Green and are in fact using a Woodcote Green conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Woodcote Green solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 mortgage company 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Woodcote Green lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
We were just about to sign contracts for a semi detached house in Woodcote Green. We encountered a snag. The mortgage offer with Alliance & Leicester expires on 25/2/2025 but the vendors are suggesting a completion date of 27/2/2025. Can one extend the loan expiry date?
The person best placed to deal with your concern is your conveyancer who will hopefully assess whether they should be discussing with the mortgage broker, vendor’s representatives, property agents or conceivably all parties based on the history of your transaction to date.
How does conveyancing in Woodcote Green differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Woodcote Green contact us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is finished. This is because house builders in Woodcote Green tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Woodcote Green or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Woodcote Green I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Woodcote Green in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
I was pointed in your direction by numerous estate agents in Woodcote Green to select a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to recommend your lawyers rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to make any referral fee for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Woodcote Green. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?
The sensible thing to do is clear the service charge as normal given that all rents and service invoices should be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
After years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Woodcote Green. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Woodcote Green conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Woodcote Green premises is Ground Floor Maisonette 17 Milton Road in January 2014. The Tribunal determined the premium payable by the Applicant to the should be £13,299 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 71.73 years.