My apartment in Belton is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Does my conveyancing practitioner need to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Lloyds conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently in recent years.
A colleague suggested that where I am buying in Belton 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 sometimes included in the estimate for your Belton conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Belton 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 demographics 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 data regarding Belton.
I am buying my first flat in Belton with a loan from Barnsley Building Society. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not disclose to my conveyancer about this extras as it will put at risk my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Given that I will soon part with hundreds of thousands of pounds on a property in Belton I would like to have a conversation with the solicitor concerning theconveyancing in advance of appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?
This is something that we encourage - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you speaking to the solicitor due to be doing your conveyancing in Belton.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique individual, not a matter number. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in Belton should be the figure that you end up paying.
We expect to complete the sale of our £475,000 garden flat in Belton on Monday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Belton?
Belton conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually involves the purchaser’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries the majority will be willing to do so. They are at liberty to invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.
I own a leasehold flat in Belton, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Belton with a long lease are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2102
With 77 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £7,600 and £8,800 plus costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.
How much experience do your Belton conveyancing solicitors have with Help To Buy, Shared Equity and similar schemes?
Belton conveyancing lawyers help thousands of people move home every year and supported lots of clients through the Help To Buy scheme. The chances are that whatever makes your case unique Belton conveyancers have worked on recent similar matters.