Me and my wife are purchasing property in Fitzrovia. My property lawyer is not on the bank solicitor panel. Am I still permitted to appoint my Fitzrovia conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
Your options include
- Proceed with your chosen Fitzrovia property lawyer but your mortgage company will need to retain a conveyancer from their approved panel. This will result in additional cost and likely delay.
- Get a new conveyancer to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your solicitor to pull out all the stops to join the lender’s panel of solicitors
I am assisting my step-mother sell her flat in Fitzrovia. Will the conveyancing solicitor order the energy performance certificate or it is for me to coordinate?
After the abolition of Home Packs, energy performance certificates became a compulsory component of moving house. An energy performance certificate must be to hand in advance of the property being advertised. This is not a task that law firms normally arrange. Where you are using a Fitzrovia conveyancing solicitor they might be willing to arrange energy performance certificates due to their contacts with reputable local energy assessors
We previously chose solicitors with offices in Fitzrovia on the Nottingham solicitor approved list. They have just invoiced me an additional charge for dealing with the Nottingham mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Nottingham?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your conveyancer is entitled to charge a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by Nottingham but by your Fitzrovia conveyancer. Numerous firms on the Nottingham panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but some firms include it on their overall fee.
We were going to get a OIP from Barclays this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Barclays recommend any Fitzrovia solicitors on the Barclays conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Fitzrovia solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Barclays conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Barclays through the process.
I'm refinancing my existing property to a BTL loan with Alliance & Leicester and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on further house. The neighborhood we are talking about is Fitzrovia. Will your lawyers be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and link together the transactions?
Make use of our comparison tool on this site to ensure that the conveyancers are approved by both banks. Assuming that they are the lawyer should be able to simultaneously deal with the two deals but you should have a chat with you solicitor and specify your expectations and requirements.
My husband and I are FTB’s - had an offer accepted, yet the estate agent told us that the owners will only go ahead if we use the agent's preferred conveyancers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street solicitor who is accustomed to conveyancing in Fitzrovia
We suspect that the seller is not behind this demand. If they desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are genuine buyers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you intend to appoint your own,trusted Fitzrovia conveyancing firm - rather thanthose that will provide the estate agent a kickback or hit his conveyancing figures pre-set by senior management.
I am intending to sublet my leasehold apartment in Fitzrovia. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?
A lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Fitzrovia do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.
I am the registered owner of a first flat in Fitzrovia. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?
You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Fitzrovia conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Fitzrovia residence 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 affected 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 73.26 years.
My partner is purchasing a shared ownership flat in Fitzrovia. He has received a fee estimate by the conveyancer connected to the selling agents totaling £1300 . It was ten years ago I sold and purchased a property and the bill was £just under five hundred pounds. Have charges really increased to that extent?
What does the conveyancing estimate include? Is it just for the legal fees, or what you will be paying in total (for example Fitzrovia searches, land registry fees, etc)