My wife and I are looking to buy a house in Edgbaston and have appointed a Edgbaston conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Edgbaston lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Edgbaston lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am purchasing my first flat in Edgbaston with a mortgage from Bank of Ireland. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Edgbaston I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Edgbaston suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for my conveyancing in Edgbaston. I happened to discover a web site which appears to be the perfect offering If it is possible to get all formalities done via web that would be ideal. Do I need to be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Edgbaston where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Edgbaston conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 buyer.
I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Edgbaston, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Edgbaston with over 90 years remaining are worth £201,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2090
With only 65 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £13,300 and £15,400 as well as professional fees.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
Can you set examples of compelling advantages to choosing a high street conveyancer in Edgbaston
Home movers in Edgbaston decide on using a nearby high street solicitor so that they can attend the lawyer’s offices in the event that they have problems, and to deliver paperwork rather taking the chance in relying on the post.
Some would argue that there is a distinct advantage in selecting a lawyer local to the property you are planning to purchase, due to the in-depth knowledge of the locality and potential local issues - yet this is moot. Most conveyancers are now via email and could be anywhere in the world.