We are buying a property and require a conveyancing solicitor in North London who is on the Nationwide approved panel. Can you recommend a local firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Nationwide . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in North London.
My flat in North London is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will my solicitor have to be required to be on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
I just bought a property at auction in North London. Conveyancing is necessary. What happens now?
Having to all intents and purposes signed on the dotted line you must instruct a conveyancing lawyer quickly as you are facing a pending a fixed date to complete the transaction. All auction property should have a corresponding auction set of papers. This will include most,if not all of the documents that your solicitor requires. Where you are dealing with leasehold property the legal papers should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing documentation pertinent to a leasehold property. You must hand this to the lawyer working for you at the earliest opportunity. Do make sure that that you have the requisite funding in place to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
I'm the only recipient of my late mum's estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in North London. The North London property was put into my name in June. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership may be treated the same way as if I'd bought the property in June. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be caught by that. How sensible a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the lender as this requirement is primarily there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in North London. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor. I paid an upfront payment of £175. A couple of days later, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
How does conveyancing in North London differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in North London contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is completed. This is because new home sellers in North London tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in North London or who has acted in the same development.
I'm remortgaging my existing house to a BTL mortgage with Halifax and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on another house. The area we are looking at is North London. Will your solicitors be able to act for the two banks and tie in the transactions?
Make use of our comparison tool on this page to be sure that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panels. On the basis that they are your solicitor will be able to connect the two transactions but you should talk with you solicitor and specify your desired outcome and needs.
We own a leasehold flat in North London. Conveyancing was finalised in five years ago. I have heard that I should not let the lease length fall too short. Is this correct?
North London leasehold properties are for a fixed period - normally 99 years when they are first granted. However a significant appartments in North London were constructed or converted 20 or more years ago and so these leases now have under 80 years left to run. That may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally require leases to have a minimum of seventy five years remaining to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are nearing eighty years. To optimize the marketability of your property you should be thinking about whether to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. There are also advantages to doing so before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease is less than 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to increase.