I do hope you can assist me. My Erith solicitor is assuring me that she is duty bound toapply for Erith conveyancing searches becausethe firm are on the Virgin Moneyapproved lawyer panel. These Erith searches cost a lot of money can this be avoided?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a bank your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your solicitor would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook requirements . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Erith conveyancing searches.
Completed the sale of my flat in Erith last October but our buyer keeps e-mailing daily to say their conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities following completion?
Post completion of your sale your conveyancer is obliged to forward the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your conveyancer should also evidence that the mortgage has been redeemed to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures specific conveyancing in Erith.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home can not be found. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in Erith 4 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?
Assuming you have a registered title the information relating to your ownership will be retained by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is possible to perform a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and secure current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases hold a file copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for £20 inclusive of VAT.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Erith is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Erith are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Erith you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Erith may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Erith. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?
If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Erith.
I am the proprietor of a two-bedroom flat in Erith. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Erith residence is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case related to 13 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.
My work colleague mentioned that when choosing a conveyancing solicitors they need approved by your mortgage company. This is my first home move but I have an offer in principle via Santander and I already have a high street conveyancing lawyer in Erith at the ready. Does Halifax require an approved solicitor to be used? If so, where do I find that list for my conveyancing in Erith?
You need to instruct a solicitor that is on the Halifax panel. The simplest thing to do is call your chosen Erith conveyancing lawyer and ask if they are on the Halifax panel. If they are not approved you have a number of alternatives available to you here:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Erith solicitor but Halifax will need to use a conveyancing practitioner from their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost and potential interruption.
- Get a new conveyancing practitioner to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the Halifax conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to pull out all the stops to get listed on the Halifax conveyancing panel.
