I am in the market for a low cost property lawyer. Do I opt for an online conveyancer or a high street Flint conveyancing lawyer?
Established third party connections are another important factor to consider when appointing conveyancing solicitors. Flint law firms benefit from long term relationships with lenders and agents, local authorities, surveyors and other conveyancing firms meaning the whole process is going to be much more straightforward for you. Having a wealth of insight into the local area is an advantage.
My uncle advised me that in purchasing a property in Flint there may be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to a property. Is this right?
We are aware of anumerous of properties in Flint which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Flint should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
My wife and I are in the process of viewing apartments in Flint and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a property lawyer in place at this point? I am planning to take a home loan with Bank of Ireland.
It would be wise to commence your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the EA. Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Bank of Ireland, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Flint. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an on account payment of £225. A couple of days later, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Yorkshire BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My colleague recommended that if I am buying in Flint I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Flint conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Flint around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Flint.
How does conveyancing in Flint differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Flint contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is built. This is because house builders in Flint typically purchase the land, 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Flint or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in Flint I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Flint in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Flint. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Flint Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing
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Plenty Flint leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the management company. Where you buy the flat you will have to meet this charge, usually periodically accross the year. This could be anything from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a significant sum, say about £50-£100 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. It is important to be aware whether window replacement or some other major work is due in the near future that will be shared by the leaseholders and will materially increase the the service fees or result in a one off invoice.