I am acquiring a newly constructed apartment in Elmstead and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the lender to disclose incentives from the developer. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I would rather not delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Will lawyers request money up-front for my conveyancing in Elmstead?
If you are buying a property in Elmstead your solicitor will ask you place them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. Normally this is requested to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. When the deposit is payable against the purchase price then this should be required immediately before exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.
My wife and I own a renovated Georgian property in Elmstead. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Halifax. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Elmstead and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one close by in Elmstead I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Elmstead suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
Are there any apps to assist me to locate a Elmstead law firm on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am happy to travel upto 20miles to meet the conveyancer.
You can use the tool on this website. Please pick a lender and your location and you will see a number of Elmstead conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have detailed some Elmstead conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can contact them to see whether they are on the Virgin Money panel
We are four weeks into a freehold purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the local agent to execute conveyancing in Elmstead. I am am very dissatisfied with the quality of service. Could you help me find new lawyers?
They would need to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the loan offer been generated? If so you will need to inform them of the new solicitor and get the loan are re-issued. The solicitor ideally needs to be on the lenders panel to avoid escalating charges and delays. So that should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool can assist you in finding a lender approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Elmstead