It is is a decade since I bought my home in Heysham. Conveyancing lawyers have now been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down my deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly there is a chance that the deeds will be kept by the lender or they may still be with the lawyers who handled your purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors obtaining current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Heysham involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
The Heysham conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my purchase in Heysham have suddenly shut down. I only went with them because I needed a lawyer on the Skipton conveyancing panel and my preferred Heysham lawyer was not. I cut them a cheque for £250 in advance. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately 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 should appoint new lawyers that are on the Skipton 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 may be able to help.
My wife and I are purchasing a property in Heysham. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On completion day we have to send our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Can you point me to a directory of Co-operative panel solicitors in Heysham on the Building Society Association’s Website?
No. There is no such directory service on the CML or Building Society Association sites. Very few lending institutions make their panel listings available over the internet. Where you are seeking to appoint a Heysham lawyer on the Co-operative please make the most of our tool.
I currently have a mortgage with Yorkshire BS for my property in Heysham. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Yorkshire BS?
You must advise Yorkshire BS prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Yorkshire BS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Yorkshire BS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel firm.
We are buying a property and the conveyancer has mentioned Chancel Repair for which the house may be liable given it’s proximity to the area of such a church. She has mentioned insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in Heysham
Unless a previous purchase of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect lawyers handling conveyancing in Heysham to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.
I have a renovated Victorian house in Heysham. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Aldermore. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Aldermore to clarify?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Heysham and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one near me in Heysham I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Heysham suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.