My husband and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Kentish Town and have instructed a Kentish Town conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Norwich and Peterborough 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 conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Kentish Town solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am being advised by my conveyancer that defective lease insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Kentish Town conveyancing?
The right level of defective lease indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Nationwide Building Society and Leeds Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
Does a directory service exist listing UBS panel solicitors in Kentish Town on the Building Society Association’s Website?
No. There is no such directory service on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings open the public over the internet. Where you are seeking to appoint a Kentish Town lawyer on the UBS please use our facility.
We previously appointed conveyancing lawyers locally in Kentish Town on the Santander solicitor panel. They are now charging me a supplemental fee for the legal aspects of the Santander mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Santander?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your solicitor may levy a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Santander but by your Kentish Town solicitor. Numerous firms on the Santander panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but many firms include it on their overall fee.
The deeds to our property are lost. The solicitors who handled the conveyancing in Kentish Town 4 years ago have long since closed. What are my next steps?
As long as you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be retained by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is easy to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and get up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. Where the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually retain a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Kentish Town I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Kentish Town in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.
If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Kentish Town - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I have given up seeking a lease extension in Kentish Town. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
if there is a missing landlord 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 LVT to determine the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Kentish Town premises 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 unexpired term was 64.77 years.
I am looking to acquire a repression flat in Kentish Town and the vendor would like to complete within a week. Do conveyancing practitioners meet that timeframe? Would it be better to use a high street Kentish Town firm or an online firm that professes to offer speedy conveyancing?
Visit your Kentish Town shopping parade. Pop in to 3 firms and request to talk to a conveyancing solicitor for an estimate. Explain your situation and get a commitment on speed. Select the firm that appears most efficient. Make sure to choose a conveyancer on the panel of conveyancers who can act for your lender.