It is is a decade since I bought my home in Belgravia. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I can't track down my title documents. Will this cause complications?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be retained by the mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw the purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Belgravia involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
A relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Belgravia I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Belgravia conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Belgravia around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Belgravia Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Belgravia.
It has been five months following my purchase conveyancing in Belgravia concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How do I locate a Belgravia law firm on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am willing to travel upto 20miles to meet the lawyer.
You can use the tool on this page. Please select a mortgage company and your location and you will see a number of Belgravia conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have listed some Belgravia conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can contact them to verify whether they are on the Leeds Building Society approved list
I am 14 days into a leasehold purchase having been referred to a firm by the local agent to perform conveyancing in Belgravia. We are not happy. Can you help me find new solicitors?
They would have to be very poor in order to consider changing them. Has the loan offer been issued? If so you must advise them of the new contact details and have the offer are re-sent. The solicitor ideally should be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid added costs and complications. So that should be your starting point. The find a solicitor tool should assist you in finding a bank approved lawyer for your home move in Belgravia
I am employed by a busy estate agency in Belgravia where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Belgravia conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 commence 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.
Notwithstanding our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Belgravia. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Belgravia flat is Flat 3 47 Cadogan Square in December 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable to the landord by the leaseholder for the lease extension was £732,935 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 13.33 years.