My husband and I are hoping to acquire a property in Polesworth and have instructed a Polesworth conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Polesworth solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property requiring 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Polesworth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I have been told that property searches are the primary reason for obstruction in Polesworth conveyancing transactions. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Polesworth.
I have recentlydiscovered that Action Conveyancing have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Polesworth for a purchase of a freehold house 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest method to see if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Polesworth conveyancing specialists.
How does conveyancing in Polesworth differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Polesworth come to us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because builders in Polesworth typically acquire the land, 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 conveyancers 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 Polesworth or who has acted in the same development.
I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for residential conveyancing in Polesworth. I've land on a web site which appears to be the perfect solution If it is possible to get all the legals done via email that would be preferable. Should I be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?
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?
I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Polesworth where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Polesworth conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as 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 proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Polesworth - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying
-
Where a Polesworth lease has no more than 80 years it will affect the salability of the apartment. Check with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for 24 months before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension. For many Polesworth leaseholds the outlay for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Polesworth ask tenants to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works. The majority of Polesworth leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. If you buy the flat you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments throughout the year. This may differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a exorbitant figure, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as occasionally it could be prohibitively expensive.