Our conveyancer has identified a defect with the lease for the property we are purchasing in Saltdean. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our lawyer says that he must check that the mortgage company is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the lender are the client. Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your conveyancing practitioner will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
My colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in Saltdean I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Saltdean conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Saltdean around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Saltdean Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Saltdean Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Saltdean.
I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Saltdean. I now require my file however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Saltdean of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Saltdean I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Saltdean for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
As co-executor for the will of my uncle I am selling a property in Newport but I am based in Saltdean. My lawyer (approximately 250 miles awayrequires that I execute a stat dec before completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing solicitor in Saltdean to witness this legal document for me?
Technically speaking you are not likely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Saltdean
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Saltdean both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Saltdean is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Saltdean conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Saltdean - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
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It is important to be aware whether redecorating or some other major work is due in the foreseeable future to be shared by the leaseholders and will materially increase the the maintenance costs or require a specific invoice. Please note if it is no more than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the property for 24 months in order to be entitled to extend the lease. Is there a share of the freehold?