I am acquiring a newly built apartment in Slough and my solicitor is telling me that she is duty bound to the lender to disclose incentives from the builder. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange and I would rather not prolong the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
The Slough conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Slough have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous Slough lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.
My wife and I purchasing a 3 bedroom semi in Slough. We would like to convert the garage to a playroom at the house.Will legal work on the property involve investigations to see if these alterations are prohibited?
Your property lawyer should check the deeds as conveyancing in Slough can on occasion reveal restrictions in the title deeds which prohibit categories of works or require the permission of a 3rd party. Some additions call for local authority planning consent and approval in accordance building regulations. Many areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. It would be wise to check these issues with a surveyor before you commit yourself to a purchase.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Co-operative, do Slough solicitors incur an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any bank fees to be on their panel, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
Clydesdale have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Slough has been accepted, what happens next?
The property agent will want to be informed of your conveyancing practitioner's details (ensure that the lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Clydesdale or the financial adviser and finish off any appropriate forms. Clydesdale will instruct a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or owners to book an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a fortnight to receive the mortgage offer. Clydesdale will issue the offer to you and your lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Slough.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one near me in Slough I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Slough in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
Given that I am about to spend £400,000 on a property in Slough I would like to talk to a solicitor about myconveyancing prior to appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?
We could not agree more - we would be delighted to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the conveyancer due to be doing your property ownership legalities in Slough.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique individual, not a matter reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for residential conveyancing in Slough should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.
I am four weeks into a freehold purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the estate agent to handle our conveyancing in Slough. I am am starting to be disappointed with the level of service. Can you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
A conveyancer would need to be very poor to suggest replacing them. Has your mortgage offer been issued? In the event that it has you need to advise them of the new contact details and have the mortgage documents are re-issued. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid escalating fees and frustration. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. Our search tool can help you find a bank approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Slough