My partner and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Shooter's Hill and are in fact using a Shooter's Hill conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Santander have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Shooter's Hill solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shooter's 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.
Can the conveyancing practitioners identified through your search tool conduct auction conveyancing in Shooter's Hill?
There are a number of niche lawyers we can put you in touch with those conducting auction conveyancing. Shooter's Hill is just one of hundreds of locations in which our lawyers cover.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and identified one close by in Shooter's Hill I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Shooter's Hill in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you could 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 solicitor about this.
I'm refinancing my existing house to a BTL loan with The Mortgage Works and intend to use the remaining equity towards another house. The neighborhood we are interested in is Shooter's Hill. Will your conveyancers be able to act for the two banks and link together the transactions?
Make use of our comparison tool on this page to ensure that the conveyancers are on the appropriate lender panels. On the basis that they are the conveyancer should be able to tie up the two deals but you should talk with you solicitor and communicate your desired outcome and requirements.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in Shooter's Hill. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, but I have recently had a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as you normally would given that all ground rent and service payments should be apportioned on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer 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.
Following months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Shooter's Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the amount due.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Shooter's Hill property is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case related to 1 flat.
My husband and I are purchasing a first floor flat in Shooter's Hill. At the time of instructing our conveyancing practitioner, they said that they were on all major UK bank panels. Our financial adviser emailed yesterday to advise that they are not on the Lloyds approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Should we simply find a new lawyer that is on their panel or do we cover the costs for separate representation, with Lloyds selecting their own approved lawyer.
When acquiring a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchaser’s lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a conveyancing practitioner has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the conveyancing practitioner to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the property lawyer has to satisfy. Some building societies now insist their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your conveyancing practitioner should contact Lloyds to find out if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on Lloyds's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shooter's Hill lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.