My husband and I are looking to acquire a flat in Fitzrovia and are in fact using a Fitzrovia conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Fitzrovia lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Fitzrovia lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
There are numerous conveyancing solicitors in Fitzrovia but how do I know who I should use?
It would be unwise to be swayed by the lowest Fitzrovia conveyancing fees. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.
Do I choose a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Fitzrovia?
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in Fitzrovia and Solicitor practices in Fitzrovia who provide Conveyancing services We would stress that both are regulated professionals specialising in the legal work in the home buying process. The two can deal with associated property related work such as remortgage conveyancing, enfranchisement and transfer of equity conveyancing.
I have finally had an offer on a flat in Fitzrovia agreed to, the vendors do nevertheless have a connected purchase. The sellers have offered on somewhere, however it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other properties booked. I have chosen a high street conveyancing solicitor in Fitzrovia. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with RBS?
It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then valuation, Fitzrovia conveyancing search charges, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your conveyancing practitioner is on the RBS approved list. Regarding the subsequent steps this very much dictated by the circumstances of your case, attraction to this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market some home buyers will apply for a home loan with RBS and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancer to move forward with the conveyancing in Fitzrovia.
We are downsizing from our home in Fitzrovia and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. A high street Fitzrovia lawyer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers instructed a national conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Fitzrovia. We have lived in Fitzrovia for three years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to seek confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same ailment)
How does conveyancing in Fitzrovia differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Fitzrovia contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is finished. This is because new home sellers in Fitzrovia typically buy the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Fitzrovia or who has acted in the same development.
Am I better off to choose a Fitzrovia conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can carry out the conveyancing but they are based 200miles away.
The primary upside of using a high street Fitzrovia conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to sign documents, present your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have instructed your friend and the majority were impressed that must outweigh using an unknown Fitzrovia conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Fitzrovia based.
I work for a busy estate agency in Fitzrovia where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Fitzrovia conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 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 disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.
After years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Fitzrovia. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Fitzrovia conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Fitzrovia premises is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 73.26 years.