My partner and I are planning to purchase a property in Golders Green and are in fact using a Golders Green conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Golders Green conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Golders Green solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The Golders Green conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Golders Green have without warning closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Barclays conveyancing panel and my previous Golders Green lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Barclays conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.
I am assisting my step-mother sell her flat in Golders Green. Will the conveyancing solicitor order the energy assessment or do I organise this?
After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s was retained a required part of selling a house. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned in advance of the property being put on the market. It is not something that solicitors ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Golders Green conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy performance certificates given their relationships with long established Golders Green energy assessors
We were going to get a DIP from Lloyds this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Lloyds recommend any Golders Green solicitors on the Lloyds conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Golders Green solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Lloyds through the process.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Kent Reliance. I assume I don't need a Golders Green property lawyer on the Kent Reliance panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Kent Reliance mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Kent Reliance mortgage from the register. Kent Reliance, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Kent Reliance has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Kent Reliance has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I am looking into buying my first house which is in Golders Green and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Golders Green. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Golders Green area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Golders Green. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
I need to find a conveyancing solicitor for leasehold conveyancing in Golders Green. I've land on a site which looks to be the ideal answer If there is a chance to get all this stuff completed via web that would be ideal. Do I need to be wary? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Golders Green from the point of view of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Golders Green can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Golders Green leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance. A minority of Golders Green leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
After years of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Golders Green. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Golders Green conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Golders Green premises is Flat A 372 Cricklewood Lane in January 2013. The Tribunal decided that the premium for the extended lease should be £5,750.00 and that the terms of the new lease should be those set out in annex to the decsion This case related to 1 flat.