My wife and I are planning to buy a home in Ashford Kent and have appointed a Ashford Kent conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Clydesdale have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Ashford Kent solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ashford Kent solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
What is the first thing I need to know about purchase conveyancing in Ashford Kent?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Ashford Kent and elsewhere in Kent is often a confrontational process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of opportunity for friction between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For example, the vendor, property agent and on occasion the mortgage company. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Ashford Kent an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the process whose responsibility is to act in your best interests and to keep you safe.
There is a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process taking so long. You should always trust your solicitor above the other parties in the home moving process.
We're in Ashford Kent, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is TSB , and our lawyer is on the TSB conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the TSB conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
My wife and I have a renovated Georgian house in Ashford Kent. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Bank of Ireland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. Is it worth asking Bank of Ireland to clarify?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Ashford Kent and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
About to purchase a new build apartment in Ashford Kent. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Ashford Kent
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The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.
At what stage do I pay stamp duty due for my Ashford Kent property purchase?
Your property lawyer should fill out a stamp duty return for you as part of your Ashford Kent purchase transaction for signature. After completion your property lawyer will submit the Land Transaction Return Form to the Tax Authorities and - assuming they have the funds - discharge any tax bill liability on your behalf.