I am assisting my niece sell her flat in Buckley. Will the conveyancing solicitor order an energy assessment or it is for the seller to see to?
After the demise of Home Information Packs, EPC’s became a required component of selling a property. An energy assessment must be to hand prior to the property being advertised. It is not as aspect of the sale process that lawyers ordinarily organise. If you are instructing a Buckley conveyancing solicitor they may be able to arrange EPC’s given their contacts with reputable Buckley assessors
My lawyer has informed me that flying freehold insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Buckley conveyancing?
The appropriate level of flying freehold indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Nationwide Building Society and Coventry Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
The mortgage over my property is with Santander for my property in Buckley. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Santander?
You must advise Santander before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Santander’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Santander will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Santander directly. You need not do this via a Santander conveyancing panel firm.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Buckley?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Buckley. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
How does conveyancing in Buckley differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Buckley approach us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is completed. This is because builders in Buckley tend to purchase the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Buckley or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Buckley I like with a park and transport links nearby, however it only has 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Buckley in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Buckley from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Buckley can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives. If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled. A minority of Buckley leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
Buckley Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing
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It is important to be aware whether window replacement or some other significant cost is coming up that will be shared between the leaseholders and could well dramatically increase the the service costs or result in a specific invoice. The best form of lease structure is where the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from control and although a managing agent is frequently retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments?
Is it true that a Buckley conveyancing company has court proceedings brought against them by a client for not carrying out the appropriate conveyancing investigations?
We are not aware of such a Buckley conveyancing matter but it has been reported that, clients acquiring a house in Cumbria successfully won a claim against their property lawyer as a consequence of development plans to build a wind farm failing to be identified in conveyancing searches.
Where you are buying in Buckley It is critical that your property lawyer conduct all Buckley conveyancing searches required to ensure you have relevant and up to date information ahead of buying a property.