I am hoping to receive a mortgage with Santander. My intention is to instruct a Licensed Conveyancer in Seaham. Does the Santander Conveyancing panel exclude Licensed Conveyancers?
The Santander conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
My wife and I purchasing a detached bungalow in Seaham. We would like to an extension at the rear at the house.Will the conveyancing process include investigations to ascertain if these alterations are permitted?
Your solicitor will check the registered title as conveyancing in Seaham will occasionally identify restrictions in the title documents which prohibit certain changes or necessitated the consent of a 3rd party. Certain works call for local authority planning permissions and approval under the building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or impact extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.
My husband and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from Santander as we intend to conduct improvements to our house in Seaham. Do we need to select a nearby Seaham solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Santander would not normally instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Santander panel.
I am selling my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in May 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Lloyds are being pedantic. The Seaham solicitor who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Lloyds are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Lloyds have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Lloyds have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Lloyds may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I have been told that property searches are the primary reason for obstruction in Seaham house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Seaham.
I have justbeen informed that Arc property Solicitors have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Seaham for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I check that the property is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest method to see if the premises is in your name, 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 Seaham conveyancing specialists.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Seaham I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Seaham for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Seaham with the intention of saving time on the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Seaham can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ solicitors. A minority of Seaham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
I inherited a ground floor flat in Seaham, conveyancing formalities finalised November 2003. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Seaham with an extended lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2085
With only 61 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £19,000 and £22,000 plus professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.