Are the County Durham conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Santander conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Santander?
County Durham conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Santander conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Santander directly.
I am buying a 3 bedroom semi in County Durham. The intention is to carry out a loft conversion at the property.Will the conveyancing process include enquiries to see if these works are allowed?
Your property lawyer will check the deeds as conveyancing in County Durham can on occasion reveal restrictions in the title documents which prevent categories of alterations or need the consent of another owner. Some additions require local authority planning permissions and approval under the building regulations. Many locations are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or impact extensions. It would be prudent to check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Bank of Ireland, do County Durham conveyancing practitioners face a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any bank fees to be on their panel, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
It is not clear whether my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my County Durham bank branch on various occasions and was informed it wasn't an issue and they would lend. My County Durham conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
As long as the conveyancing practitioner is on the lender approved list, they must follow the CML Handbook requirements for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
My colleague suggested that if I am buying in County Durham I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your County Durham conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about County Durham around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, County Durham Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about County Durham.
I purchased a 4 bedroom Victorian house in County Durham. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Clydesdale. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should read 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 County Durham 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 the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. County Durham is where the house is located. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in County Durham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside County Durham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in County Durham may ascertain 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.
Last September I purchased a leasehold property in County Durham. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Leasehold Conveyancing in County Durham - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
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Where a County Durham lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with remaining years on the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments?