My wife and I are acquiring residence in Easthampstead. My Solicitor is not listed on the lender conveyancing panel. Is it possible for me to retain my Easthampstead conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the lender panel?
You have a couple of options available to you here
- Complete the purchase with your existing Easthampstead lawyer but your mortgage company will need to appoint a solicitor on their approved list. The net result is additional cost and likely frustration.
- Choose a fresh lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your lawyer to attempt to join the bank panel
We were just about to sign contracts for a leasehold flat in Easthampstead. We encountered a problem. Our mortgage offer with Nationwide Building Society expires on 29/11/2022 but the sellers are suggesting a completion date of 1/12/2022. Can one prolong the mortgage offer?
The person best placed to address this question is your solicitors who should calculate whether he or she is better off negotiating with the lender, seller’s conveyancers, property agents or possibly all three given the circumstances your conveyancing to date.
I'm the single beneficiary of my late grandmother’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Easthampstead. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in August. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship will be treated the same way as if I'd bought the property in August. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook obliges conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be impacted by that. How sensible a view banks take of it, depend on the lender as this clause is primarily there to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of properties.
Are all Easthampstead Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Principality conveyancing panel?
It is true that some banks and building societies now make use of the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their panels.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Easthampstead. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A couple of days later, the lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the TSB conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the TSB panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Will our lawyer be raising enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Easthampstead.
Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Easthampstead. Plenty of people will acquire a house in Easthampstead, fully expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that can be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Easthampstead. The standard information given to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a usual inquiry of the vendor to find out whether the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the vendor, then a buyer may bring a claim for damages as a result of such an incorrect response. A purchaser’s conveyancers should also order an environmental search. This will disclose whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further inquiries should be initiated.
3 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Easthampstead concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I work for a long established estate agent office in Easthampstead where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Easthampstead conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.
Easthampstead Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing
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Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? How many years are left on the lease? What prohibitions are contained in the Easthampstead Lease?