My wife and I are buying a new build flat in Woolwich and my lawyer is informing me that she is duty bound to the bank to reveal incentives from the developer. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I have no desire to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
How up to date is your database of Woolwich solicitors on the Co-operative conveyancing panel? Do Co-operative send you an updated list?
Woolwich conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Co-operative directly.
I have been advised by a couple of local estate agents in Woolwich to locate a property lawyer using your seach tool. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over and above a competitor’s?
We don’t offer any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
I am looking for a conveyancing lawyer in Woolwich for my house move. Is there any facility to review a solicitor's complaints history with the profession’s regulator?
You may read published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations stemming from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a firm's record, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may monitor call for training reasons.
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Woolwich where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Woolwich conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 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 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 years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Woolwich. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Woolwich conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Woolwich property is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.77 years.
Do online conveyancing organisations undertake everything a local Woolwich solicitor does or must I employ a solicitor for the final stages for my conveyancing in Woolwich?
Where you use an online conveyancer they should cover all the things your Woolwich solicitor would cover.