Can you suggest a Santander allowed Marylebone conveyancing conveyancer finish our home move within 28 days? Am I best advised to go for a local Marylebone firm or an online conveyancer?
We can recommend some very good Marylebone conveyancing firms. Another option is to visit the high street in Marylebone. Approach two or three law practices and ask to speak with a conveyancing solicitor for a fee estimate. Explain your expectations together with your reasons and ask for a commitment on your deadline. Appoint the lawyer that you trust.
I can not fathom if my bank requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Marylebone bank branch on a couple of occasions and was advised it wasn't an issue and they would lend. My Marylebone conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they would not lend based on their specific requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
Provided that the solicitor is on the bank approved list, she or he must adhere to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook specifications for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Marylebone. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A few days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Marylebone solicitor - who is on the TSB conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
TSB will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually TSB will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Marylebone surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Will our solicitor be making enquiries regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Marylebone.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors dealing with homes in Marylebone. Plenty of people will buy a house in Marylebone, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical damage, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.
Solicitors are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Marylebone. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard inquiry of the vendor to find out if the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that the property has been flooded in past which is not notified by the vendor, then a buyer may bring a compensation claim resulting from an incorrect answer. A purchaser’s solicitors will also order an enviro search. This will indicate whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries should be conducted.
I am purchasing a new build house in Marylebone with a loan from Halifax. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my lawyer about the deal as it may adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Marylebone is where the house is located. Is there any guidance you can give?
Flying freeholds in Marylebone are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Marylebone you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Marylebone may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Marylebone where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Marylebone conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Following years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Marylebone. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Marylebone flat is Flats 37 & 39 88/90 Portland Place in December 2010. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extensions in respect of these two flats is as follows:- For Flat 37, the sum of £385,230.00 For Flat 39, the sum of £436,780.00 This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 24.02 years.