Me and my partner are purchasing a 2 bedroom apartment in St James's with a mortgage. We would like to retain our St James's lawyer, but the bank advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or retain our St James's conveyancing practitioner and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This seems very unfair; can we not require that the bank use our St James's property lawyer ?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your St James's conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
At what point can the exchange of contracts occur in residential conveyancing in St James's and am I required to be at the solicitors office?
If you are local to one of the conveyancing solicitors in St James's you are welcome to come in to sign the paperwork. However, the law practices we recommend offer a countrywide conveyancing service and provide just as comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The executing of the contract is not the point of no return. Signing on the dotted line is just a prerequisite for the conveyancer to officially exchange at the appropriate time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in St James's)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
What can a local search tell me regarding the house my wife and I buying in St James's?
St James's conveyancing often commences with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations such as Xpress Legal The local search is essential in every St James's conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search will provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic sections.
How does conveyancing in St James's differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in St James's approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because new home sellers in St James's typically buy the site, 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in St James's or who has acted in the same development.
I am looking into buying my first house which is in St James's and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about St James's. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the St James's area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at St James's. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in St James's. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.
Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in St James's - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I inherited a first flat in St James's. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?
if there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a St James's residence is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 73.26 years.