My wife and I are looking to purchase a property in Noak Hill and are in fact using a Noak Hill conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Noak Hill conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Noak Hill solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My lawyer has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Noak Hill. The other side have suggested defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner has advised that he must ensure that the bank is willing to move forward with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the mortgage company are the client. Your property lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
Various web forums that I have come across warn that are the primary reason for hinderance in Noak Hill house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Noak Hill.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Noak Hill ahead of retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will not issue a loan on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements from Nationwide. If you call us we can check with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Noak Hill. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Noak Hill to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I am looking at a two apartments in Noak Hill which have approximately 50 years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Noak Hill is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Noak Hill conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I am the leaseholder of a ground-floor 1960’s flat in Noak Hill. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?
Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Noak Hill conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Noak Hill residence is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 57.5 years.
I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the bank conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the lender approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.