My husband and I are planning to buy a flat in Kentish Town and have appointed a Kentish Town conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Coventry Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Kentish Town lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Accreditation 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Kentish Town lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am buying a semi-detached house in Kentish Town. Can I do my own conveyancing?
Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Kentish Town you will have to appoint a solicitor on your lender's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Kentish Town.
My wife and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in Kentish Town and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers instructed a web based conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Kentish Town. We have lived in Kentish Town for six years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to get in touch with our local Authority to get clarification that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same ailment)
It has been 3 months since my purchase conveyancing in Kentish Town took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Is it possible to change firm as I need to choose a firm on the TSB conveyancing list. I was using a local conveyancing solicitor in Kentish Town round the corner but he is not accepted by TSB
It would be our pleasure to assist you find a conveyancing solicitor in Kentish Town on the TSB panel. Please note that the property lawyers that we list do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Kentish Town. In utilising search facility on this site, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Kentish Town.
I would like to sublet my leasehold apartment in Kentish Town. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?
Some leases for properties in Kentish Town do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.
Following years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Kentish Town. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Kentish Town property is Flat 2 27 Mackeson Road in December 2012. The Tribunal assessed the value of the lease extension premium at £35,435 and rounded the figure to £35,500 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 64.77 years.