I am obtaining a mortgage with Nat West. My intention is to use a Licensed Conveyancer in London. Does the Nat West Conveyancing panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?
The Nat West conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.
The owners of the property we are purchasing hired a conveyancing solicitor in London who has insisted on a exclusivity contract with a deposit two thousand pounds. Are such contracts the norm for London conveyancing transactions?
Exclusivity contracts are agreements binding a property seller and purchaser granting the buyer a ‘clear field’ to purchase the premises within an agreed time frame. For all intents and purposes, an exclusivity is a document stating that you will have a contract at a later time being the contract for the actual sale. It tends to be utilised for buyer confidence though in some cases, the proprietor may stand to benefit from such agreements as well. There are many positives and negatives to having an agreement but you need to check with your conveyancer but beware that it may end up incurring extra in conveyancing fees. For this these agreements are rare when it comes to conveyancing in London.
My husband and I are purchasing a 3 bedroom apartment in London with a residential mortgage from Coventry Building Society.We have a London conveyancing practitioner but Coventry Building Society informed us she’s not listed on their approved list of member firms. We have to appoint a Coventry Building Society panel solicitor or retain our high street solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The home loan offered to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will be on the Coventry Building Society approved list. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Coventry Building Society
is it true that all London solicitor practices on the Nottingham conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of mortgage companies do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
We previously selected conveyancing lawyers with offices in London on the Bank of Ireland solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further amount for dealing with the Bank of Ireland mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Bank of Ireland?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your property lawyer may charge a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by Bank of Ireland but by your London conveyancer. Some firms on the Bank of Ireland panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
After what seems like an age I have had an offer on a maisonette in London agreed to, the vendors do however have a tied purchase. The owners have put an offer on a property, but it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other properties in the pipeline. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in London. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, London conveyancing search charges, etc). The first course of action is to check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Barclays approved list. Concerning the next steps this very much depends on the uniqueness of your case, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market some home buyers will apply for the mortgage with Barclays and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their conveyancer to press on with searches.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in London I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in London in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities 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 consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
Completion is due on the sale of our £225,000 flat in London next Monday. The landlords agents has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in London?
London conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be content to assist. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.
After months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in London. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the premium.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a London property is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 73.26 years.