My partner and I are hoping to buy a house in Dover and have instructed a Dover conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Dover solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Dover solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Dover costs more?
Dover leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving relevant notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Dover in advance of retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks will refuse to issue a mortgage on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can check via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Dover. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Dover to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
We're first time buyers - had an offer accepted, but the agent informed us that the owners will only move forward if we use the agent's recommended conveyancers as they want an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a family conveyancer used to conveyancing in Dover
We suspect that the seller is unaware of this demand. If they desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a serious buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Speak to the vendors direct and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you are unencumbered (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you are going to appoint your own,trusted Dover conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will give the negotiator at the agency a referral fee or meet his conveyancing thresholds demanded by senior management.
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Dover. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.
If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Dover - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I invested in buying a 1 bedroom flat in Dover, conveyancing having been completed 6 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Dover with a long lease are worth £227,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2095
With only 72 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.
Should one remove a deceased person's name from the title deeds for a house in Dover?
If a Dover property is co-owned and one of the owners passes away, their name will not automatically be removed from the Land Registry title. You are not required to remove their name as when it comes to a disposal your lawyer would just be asked to evidence why the other owner is not included in the contract, such as the probate documents.
With the aim of making the sale conveyancing smoother in the future you can arrange to have the deceased name removed from the title register by submitting an application to HMLR with proof of the death. There is no land registry fee payable.