I am five weeks into the sale of my home in Canvey Island and the EA has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are appointing a new solicitor. The reason given is that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major mortgage company only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Canvey Island ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for decades.
Mortgage companies blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Canvey Island. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Aldermore, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you plan to re-mortgage then Aldermore will require that you use a conveyancer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Aldermore mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I require fast conveyancing in Canvey Island as I am under a deadline to exchange contracts in less than one month. A home loan is not required. Is it possible to decline from having conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
As you are not taking a home loan you are at liberty not to have searches carried out although no law firm would suggest that you don't. Drawing on years of experience of conveyancing in Canvey Island the following are instances of issues that can show up and therefore impact future mortgageability: Enforcement Actions, Outstanding Fees, Overdue Grants, Road Schemes,...
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Canvey Island is where the house is located. Can you offer any guidance?
Flying freeholds in Canvey Island are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Canvey Island you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Canvey Island may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
I work for a reputable estate agency in Canvey Island where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Canvey Island conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is 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 buyer.
Canvey Island Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying
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The answer will be useful as a) areas may cause problems in the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will need to know about it What prohibitions exist in the Canvey Island Lease? Are there any major works anticipated that could increase the maintenance costs?
We own a leasehold flat in Canvey Island. Conveyancing was finished in 2010. I have been told that I mustn’t allow the the remaining lease term to fall too low. What is the reasoning?
Canvey Island leasehold properties are for a fixed period - often ninety nine years when they commenced. However a significant appartments in Canvey Island were built or converted in the 60’s and so these leases now have less than eighty years left to run. This may sound like plenty of time but Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage institutions generally require leases to have at least seventy five years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are approaching 75 years. To optimize the saleability of your property you should be thinking about whether to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Please note that there are advantages to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease falls below 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.