My solicitor has informed me that absentee landlord insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Rednal conveyancing?
The appropriate level of absentee landlord indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Accord Mortgages Ltd and Chelsea Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.
My husband and I are in the process of viewing flats in Rednal and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a lawyer in place at this stage? I am planning to take a mortgage with Aldermore.
It would be advisable to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with Aldermore, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel.
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Rednal solicitor - who is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Virgin Money will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Virgin Money will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Rednal postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Virgin Money, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Rednal.
A relative suggested that where I am purchasing in Rednal I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Rednal conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Rednal around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Rednal.
Me and my brother purchased a semi-detached Georgian house in Rednal. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Rednal and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Rednal I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, however it only has 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Rednal for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing lawyer in Rednal for my home move. Is there any facility to review a solicitor's record with the profession’s regulator?
Anyone can read presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations resulting from inquisitions started on or after 1 January 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information Pre 2008, or to check a firm's record, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. International callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may monitor telephone calls for training reasons.
My lawyer in Rednal has informed me that he requires identification documents stating that this forms part of his retainer as a conveyancer on the bank Solicitor panel. Can this be correct?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the lender. This is not unique to conveyancing in Rednal