My lawyer has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the property we are purchasing in Cotham. The seller’s lawyers have suggested defective title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our lawyer says that he must be satisfied that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the lender?
Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the mortgage company does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. You and the lender are the client. The appropriate lender specifications must be adhered to.
What is the first thing I need to know concerning purchase conveyancing in Cotham?
Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Cotham or throughout Bristol is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists an abundance of room for friction between you and other parties involved in the legal transfer of property. E.g., the vendor, property agent and even potentially the bank. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Cotham should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE person in the process whose interest is to act in your legal interests and to protect you.
There is a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you should always trust your lawyer above the other players in the conveyancing process.
Is there a search tool that I can utilise to find out if the solicitor conducting my conveyancing in Cotham is on the mortgage lender’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Yorkshire Building Society thus spending £187.00 plus VAT in supplemental legal bill.
Feel free to make the most of the search tool on this page. Pick the mortgage company and type ‘Cotham’ or your location and you will see numerous solicitors located in Cotham or nearest you.
I just bought a house at auction in Cotham. Conveyancing is necessary. What happens now?
Given that you are now to in every practical sense signed on the dotted line you should find a conveyancing lawyer as a matter of priority as you are faced with a fast approaching a drop dead date to complete the transaction. All auction property should have a corresponding legal set of papers. This should include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the auction pack may provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork specific to a leasehold property. You should hand this to the lawyer instructed by you as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that that you have the requisite funding organised to complete on the on the contractual date .
Nottingham have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a apartment in Cotham has been agreed to, now what?
Your property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Telephone Nottingham or the broker and finish off any outstanding documentation. Nottingham will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or owners to schedule an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a week for the mortgage offer to be issued. Nottingham will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Cotham.
Our sealed bid on a semi in Cotham has been agreed to, the sellers do nevertheless have a tied purchase. The owners have placed an offer on a flat, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other properties booked. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Cotham. What do I do now? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is normal to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses prematurely (home loan application is approx £1k, then survey, Cotham conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to ensure that your lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. As to the next steps this very much dictated by the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. During a hot market the majority of home buyers would apply for a home loan with Barclays and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their conveyancing practitioner to move forward with the conveyancing in Cotham.
My wife and I purchased a semi-detached Victorian house in Cotham. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Cotham and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Cotham I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cotham for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan that many years will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.