A colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in Newbury I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Newbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Newbury around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Newbury Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Newbury.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home can not be found. The solicitors who handled the conveyancing in Newbury 5 years ago are no longer around. What are my options?
Assuming the title is registered the information relating to your proprietorship will be documented by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is possible to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and secure up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. If the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases hold a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
I opted to have a survey done on a property in Newbury prior to retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor has said that some lenders may not grant a mortgage on this type of house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements from Halifax. If you contact us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Newbury. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Newbury especially if they are familiar with such properties in Newbury.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for some conveyancing in Newbury. I happened to discover a site which appears to be the ideal solution If it is possible to get all this stuff completed via phone that would be ideal. Do I need to be concerned? What should out be looking out for?
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?
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Newbury with the intention of saving time on the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Newbury can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers. If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Newbury home move. If a reissued share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Newbury state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.
I acquired a basement flat in Newbury, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2012. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding flats in Newbury with an extended lease are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2077
With 51 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £30,400 and £35,200 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.
I happen to be an executor of my recently deceased mother’s Will, with a house in Newbury which is to be sold. The house has never been registered at the Land Registry and I'm advised that many EAs will insist that it is completed before they will proceed. What's the mechanism for this?
In the situation that you have set out it seems sensible to apply to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. The Land Registry’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.