The Southwell conveyancing firm that just started acting on my house acquisition in Southwell have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my family Southwell lawyer was not. I paid them money on account. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
A relative recommended that if I am buying in Southwell I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Southwell conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Southwell around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Southwell.
I have justdiscovered that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Southwell for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I establish that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest method to see if the premises is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Southwell conveyancing specialists.
How does conveyancing in Southwell differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Southwell contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because builders in Southwell tend to purchase the land, 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 property lawyers 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 Southwell or who has acted in the same development.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Southwell I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Southwell in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed flat in Southwell. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, however I have recently had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
It best that you clear the invoice as usual given that all ground rent and maintenance payments should be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
Southwell Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying
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The majority of Southwell leasehold apartments will have a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the management company. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this liability, normally periodically throughout the year. This can be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, normally this is not a large figure, say about £25-£75 but you should to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. What prohibitions exist in the Southwell Lease?