I plan on purchasing a flat in Miles Platting. My Solicitor is not on the mortgage company conveyancing panel. Can I still continue with my Miles Platting conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company panel?
Your options include
- Carry on with your chosen Miles Platting conveyancing practitioner but your mortgage company will need to instruct a property lawyer on their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional fees and likely interruption.
- Appoint a fresh lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to seek to join the bank panel
I am about to put a bid on a leasehold flat in Miles Platting. The estate agents say that it is normal for flats in Miles Platting to have less than 75 years left on the lease. I am obtaining a loan with Chelsea Building Society. Will the property be mortgageable given that the lease has Seventy One years to go.
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 26/4/2025 the requirements read as follows :
My relative recommended that where I am purchasing in Miles Platting I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Miles Platting conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Miles Platting around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Miles Platting Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Miles Platting.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Miles Platting I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it's only got 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Miles Platting suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
If you need a home loan that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
There are only 72 years remaining on my flat in Miles Platting. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Miles Platting.
I acquired a ground floor flat in Miles Platting, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Miles Platting with over 90 years remaining are worth £221,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2095
With 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.
My step-son is about to join the property ladder, he had his mortgage in principle. One the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we rang the building society to issue the formal offer. I was very surprised to learn that mortgage lenders do not accept all solicitor, they need to be on their approved list, is this legal?
Mortgage Companies tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Miles Platting conveyancer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.