My wife and I are only a couple days away from an exchange on a house in Maldon and my parents have sent the 10% deposit to my lawyer. I am now advised that as the deposit has been sent from someone other than me my solicitor needs to make a notification to my bank. I am advised that, in also acting for the bank he must advise them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I informed the bank about my parents' contribution when I applied for the mortgage, so is it really necessary for him to raise this?
Your conveyancing practitioner is obliged to clarify with mortgage company to make sure that they are aware that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. The solicitor can only notify this to your bank if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in Maldon for our house move. Our financial adviser has since advised us that our mortgage lenders Yorkshire Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
Mortgage Companies ordinarily restrict either the category or the amount of conveyancing firms on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the type of firm, a few banks have reduced the amount of firms they use to represent them. You should note that Yorkshire Building Society have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Yorkshire Building Society Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago even though there are mixed opinions concerning the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Figures from the Land Registry indicate that hundreds of law firms, including some in or near Maldon only conduct a couple conveyances a year.
Should our conveyancer be asking questions regarding flooding during the conveyancing in Maldon.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Maldon. There are those who acquire a property in Maldon, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, but there are a numerous searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which can figure out the risks in Maldon. The standard property information forms given to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a standard inquiry of the owner to determine whether the property has ever been flooded. If flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer may issue a claim for damages stemming from an incorrect reply. The purchaser’s lawyers may also conduct an enviro search. This should reveal whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further investigations should be initiated.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for freehold conveyancing in Maldon. I happened to stumble across a site which seems to have the perfect offering If there is a chance to get all this stuff done via phone that would be preferable. Should I be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
I have recently realised that I have 72 years left on my lease in Maldon. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Maldon.
Maldon Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying
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The majority of Maldon leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the landlord. Where you buy the apartment you will have to pay this liability, normally quarterly during the year. This can vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive. What is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent?
I own a leasehold flat in Maldon. Conveyancing was completed in 21012. I have been told that I should not let the the remaining lease term to get too low. Why is that a problem?
Maldon domestic long term leases are for a fixed period - often 99 years when they are first granted. However many appartments in Maldon were constructed or converted 25 or more years ago and so these leases now have less than eighty years left to run. This may sound like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage institutions tend to need leases to have a minimum of 75 years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are getting close to 75 years. To maximise the saleability of your property you should be considering whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also advantages to taking action before the lease hits 80 years as when the lease falls below 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to escalate.