My husband and I are looking to acquire a property in Prudhoe and are in fact using a Prudhoe conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barclays Direct have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Prudhoe conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Prudhoe lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
It is is a decade since I purchased my house in Prudhoe. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be kept by your mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers procuring up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Prudhoe relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
We had selected solicitors located in Prudhoe on the HSBC solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further sum for the legal aspects of the HSBC mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by HSBC?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your property lawyer may levy a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by HSBC but by your Prudhoe solicitor. Numerous firms on the HSBC panel will levy an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some practices include it on their overall fee.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Prudhoe. My mortgage broker suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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.
Our offer on a house in Prudhoe has been accepted, but there is a chain. The sellers have offered on a flat, however it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other properties booked. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Prudhoe. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage application with Lloyds started?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then valuation, Prudhoe conveyancing search costs, etc). First, you must ensure that your solicitor is on the Lloyds approved list. As to the next phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, attraction to the property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market some buyers will apply for a home loan with Lloyds and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they request their lawyer to press on with the conveyancing in Prudhoe.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £305k and found one near me in Prudhoe I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Prudhoe in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
Am I best advised to use a Prudhoe conveyancing practitioner based in the location that I am buying? An old friend can handle the conveyancing but his firm is located over three hundred kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Prudhoe conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to sign documents, deliver your identification documents and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and they were impressed that should surpass using an unknown Prudhoe conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Prudhoe based.
Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Prudhoe with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Prudhoe can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers’ representatives. If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Prudhoe state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
Prudhoe Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying
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Is anyone aware of any major works anticipated that could increase the maintenance costs? The best form of lease structure is if the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the tenants benefit from control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Does the lease have onerous restrictions?