Our solicitor has identified a defect with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Hammersmith. The seller’s lawyers have offered title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our conveyancing practitioner says that he must be satisfied that the mortgage company is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the lender are the client. Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your conveyancing practitioner will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as a first time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Hammersmith. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Hammersmith?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Hammersmith. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the seller's lawyers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens early afternoon.
I happen to be the sole recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Hammersmith. The Hammersmith property was put into my name in August. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in August. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be caught by that. How practical a view lenders take of it, depend on the bank as this provision is chiefly there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of property.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Hammersmith. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Almost all banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Hammersmith I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Hammersmith for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.
In what way can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 affect my commercial premises in Hammersmith and how can you help?
The 1954 Act affords security of tenure to commercial lessees, granting the legal entitlement to make a request to court for a renewal lease and continue in occupation when the lease comes to an end. There are limited grounds where a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are involved. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. Hammersmith is one of our many locations in which the firms we work with are based
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Hammersmith. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Hammersmith who acted for me is not around. Any advice?
First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Hammersmith conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
After months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Hammersmith. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Hammersmith flat is 19 Crisp Road in June 2009. Following a vesting order (Under section 26 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993) The tribunal determined that the premium payable for the acquisition of the freehold was £33,756,apportioned as to£12,285 for the lower at and £21,471for the upper fat. This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 68.32 years.
Online reading suggests that Hammersmith solicitors are more costly than licensed conveyancers in Hammersmith to use when buying a house. Am I better off using a conveyancer or a solicitor where I am buying a property in Hammersmith.
When it comes to conveyancing in Hammersmith the costs are unlikely to vary dramatically depending on whether the legal expert is a licenced conveyancer or solicitor.