We're in Blakeney, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Coventry BS , and our lawyer is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no lawyer 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.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the house moving as a first time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Blakeney. Do I pick up the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will find a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Blakeney?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Blakeney. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the vendor’s conveyancers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.
Does a directory service exist listing TSB panel conveyancers in Blakeney on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?
Unfortunately not yet. There is no such facility on the CML or Building Society Association websites. A small selection of mortgage companies make their panel listings available over the internet. Where you are seeking to appoint a Blakeney solicitor on the TSB please make the most of our tool.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Blakeney. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancing practitioner. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Not long after, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I am buying my first flat in Blakeney with a mortgage from Nottingham Building Society. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about the deal as it may put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Blakeney I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Blakeney for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
Should I choose a Blakeney conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am purchasing? An old friend can handle the legal formalities but they are based over three hundred miles away.
The primary upside of using a local Blakeney conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign documents, present your identification documents and pester them if necessary. Having local Blakeney know how is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and on the whole were happy that must surpass using an unfamiliar Blakeney conveyancing solicitor just because they are Blakeney based.
We own a leasehold flat in Blakeney. Conveyancing was finalised in 2011. I have been told that I mustn’t let the the remaining lease term to get too short. Why is that a problem?
Blakeney leasehold properties are for a fixed term - usually 99 years when they commenced. However a significant flats in Blakeney were constructed or converted in the 70’s80’s and so these leases now have less than 80 years left to run. That may seem like plenty of time but Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies on the whole require leases to have at least 75 years left to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are approaching seventy five years. To increase your property value you should be considering whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also advantages to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease falls below eighty years the amount to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.