My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a home in Aldermanbury and have instructed a Aldermanbury conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Aldermanbury conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Aldermanbury solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Our conveyancer has discovered a defect with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing in Aldermanbury. The seller’s lawyers have suggested title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our conveyancer says that he must ensure that the bank is willing to move forward with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
Even though you have a mortgage offer from the mortgage company does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. You and the bank are the client. These conveyancing instructions have to be complied with.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Aldermanbury I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Aldermanbury suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I am four weeks into a residential purchase having been directed to conveyancers by the high street agent to handle our conveyancing in Aldermanbury. I am am extremely disappointed with the level of service. Can you help me find new lawyers?
They would have to be very bad in order to consider replacing them. Has your loan offer been sent? If so you will need to make them aware of the new contact details and ensure the loan are re-issued. The conveyancer should be on the lenders panel to avoid escalating costs and delays. So that should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool should help you find a bank approved lawyer for your home move in Aldermanbury
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Aldermanbury where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Aldermanbury conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 buyer.
After months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Aldermanbury. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Aldermanbury property is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 72.39 years.
I was informed by my lender that their approved solicitors work on no completion no fee basis for conveyancing in Aldermanbury. I had a purchase abort and now the conveyancers want search fees! They say the fees are independent!
By offering "no move no fee" Aldermanbury conveyancing firms are waiving their charges for any work done. We should make it clear that this is NOT an insurance scheme. you will still need to cover any charges that the conveyancer has expended for you for example Aldermanbury local authority checks