My wife and I are looking to acquire a home in Brighton and are in fact using a Brighton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Leeds Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Brighton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 property lawyer should contact your lender 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Brighton lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
We are nearing an exchange on a property in Brighton and my mum and dad have sent the ten percent deposit to my conveyancing practitioner. I am now told that as the deposit has been sent from someone other than me my property lawyer needs to disclose this to my bank. Apparently, in also acting for the bank he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I informed the bank about my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really appropriate for him to raise this?
Your lawyer is duty bound to clarify with the bank to make sure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. The solicitor can only reveal this to your bank if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
Will my conveyancer be making enquiries about flooding during the conveyancing in Brighton.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors conducting conveyancing in Brighton. There are those who purchase a house in Brighton, fully expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous searches that can be initiated by the purchaser or by their conveyancers which should figure out the risks in Brighton. The conventional set of information sent to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a usual question of the owner to determine whether the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that flooding has previously occurred which is not notified by the seller, then a buyer may bring a compensation claim stemming from an misleading answer. The purchaser’s conveyancers should also commission an enviro search. This should indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations will need to be made.
Just acquired a semi-detached house in Brighton , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to record the transfer to my name? My Brighton conveyancing solicitor works at snail pace, so I want to be sure that my ownership is registered.
As far as conveyancing in Brighton registration is no faster or slower than the rest of England and Wales. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can differ subject to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry must send notices to any other persons or bodies. At present in the region of three quarters of such applications are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer hold-ups. Registration is effected after the purchaser has moved in to the property so an expedited registration is not typically an essential issue yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor should communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Brighton. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Brighton.
I bought a basement flat in Brighton, conveyancing formalities finalised 7 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Brighton with an extended lease are worth £175,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2079
With only 58 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £23,800 and £27,400 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
We are in the middle of purchasing a property in Brighton. Conveyancing solicitor has told us the property is "Leasehold". Will this likely impact the marketability of the property?
Brighton conveyancing does not usually involve leasehold houses. The key consideration here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If there are over a hundred years remaining with a peppercorn rent, it's virtually freehold, so it shouldn't impact the saleability significantly.
At the other extreme, if it's, say, Sixty years it is bound to have a adverse impact on the saleability, and probably wouldn't be acceptable to the mortgage company. The length of lease and ground rent will be set out in the lease to be supplied to your conveyancer.