Me and my fiance are planning to buy a 1 bedroom apartment in Crowborough with a mortgage. We like our Crowborough solicitor, but the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or continue with our Crowborough solicitor and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We regard this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Crowborough conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
I happen to be the single recipient of my late grandmother’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Crowborough. The Crowborough property was put into my name in October. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', meaning my property ownership will be considered the same way as though I had purchased the house in October. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The CML handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be impacted by that. Some lenders would take a pragmatic view as this clause is chiefly there to identify subsales or the flipping of property.
We were going to get a OIP from HSBC this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do HSBC recommend any Crowborough solicitors on the HSBC conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?
You will need to appoint Crowborough solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the HSBC conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and HSBC through the process.
I currently have a mortgage with TSB for my property in Crowborough. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform TSB?
You must advise TSB prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of TSB’s mortgage conditions. It may be that TSB 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 TSB directly. You need not do this via a TSB conveyancing panel lawyer.
My colleague recommended that where I am buying in Crowborough I should 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 quoted for as part of the standard Crowborough conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Crowborough around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Crowborough Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Crowborough.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Crowborough I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Crowborough suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Crowborough conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Crowborough conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggest that you talk with several firms including non Crowborough conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be useful:
-
What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing? How many lease extensions has the firm conducted in Crowborough in the last 12 months?
Crowborough Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
-
The prefered form of lease arrangement is where the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How is the lease structured? Most Crowborough leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block levied by the management company. Where you buy the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly during the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a large figure, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it could be prohibitively expensive.
How much should conveyancing in Crowborough cost?
Almost all Crowborough conveyancing practices will agree to a standard fee. If further work arise during the transaction your conveyancing practitioner is duty bound to inform you in writing of any supplemental charges for such work as soon as it becomes apparent. Some work on a no sale no fee principle, others will levy an bill for a proportion of the agreed costs, calculated based on the point at which the conveyancing does not go ahead.
It is advisable to ask a few firms to supply you an estimate.