My fiance and I are hoping to buy a flat in Ramsey and are in fact using a Ramsey conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Ramsey lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard 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 property lawyer 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ramsey 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 am purchasing a property mortgage free in Ramsey. I have lived for the last Seventeen years in Ramsey. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I know the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then almost all of the Ramsey conveyancing searches are optional. Your solicitor will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to take that path of encouragement . One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house at a future date, it could be of importance to your future buyer what the searches determine. There are plenty of instances where premises with functional issues can still throw up adverse search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Ramsey will provide you some practical advice concerning this.
A colleague pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Ramsey there may be various restrictions preventing external changes to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Ramsey which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to perform external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Ramsey should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
We previously chose solicitors locally in Ramsey on the RBS solicitor approved list. They have just billed me a separate sum for handling the RBS mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by RBS?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your conveyancer is entitled to charge a fee for this. This charge is not set by RBS but by your Ramsey conveyancer. Numerous firms on the RBS panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Ramsey. One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Skipton have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Skipton your lawyer must follow the conveyancing instructions contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Skipton. The CML Handbook contains minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Skipton where a lease fails to comply with these requirements. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not isolated to Ramsey.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Ramsey. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Ramsey
-
The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Ramsey I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Ramsey in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
Completion is due on our sale of a £175,000 apartment in Ramsey in 5 days. The management company has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Ramsey?
Ramsey conveyancing on leasehold flats usually necessitates administration charges levied by management companies :
-
Completing pre-exchange questions
Where consent is required before sale in Ramsey
Copies of the building insurance and schedule
Deeds of covenant upon sale
Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale
Leasehold Conveyancing in Ramsey - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
-
Many Ramsey leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced on behalf of the management company. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, usually in instalments throughout the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you need to check as occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. How is the lease structured? In the main the cost for major works tend not to be included within service charges, although a few managing agents in Ramsey obliged tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for larger works.