At what point can the exchange of contracts happen for residential conveyancing in St Albans and do I need to attend the lawyers office?
Where you are near to our conveyancing solicitors in St Albans you are invited in to sign contracts. That being said, the firms we recommend provide a nationwide conveyancing service and provide just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you electronically. The signing of the purchase agreement is not the point of no return. A signed contract simply enables the solicitor to officially exchange when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where a long "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in St Albans)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
My father advised me that in purchasing a property in St Albans there could be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to the property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in St Albans which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external variations. Part of the conveyancing in St Albans should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
Is it the case that all St Albans solicitor practices on the Nottingham conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Nottingham approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in St Albans. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Not long after, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Will our conveyancer be raising enquiries about flooding as part of the conveyancing in St Albans.
Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in St Albans. There are those who acquire a house in St Albans, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate building insurance, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, however there are a various searches that can be carried out by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in St Albans. The conventional set of information given to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a usual question of the vendor to discover if the property has historically flooded. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past which is not disclosed by the vendor, then a purchaser could bring a claim for damages resulting from an misleading answer. The buyer’s solicitors should also conduct an environmental search. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be made.
It has been 3 months since my purchase conveyancing in St Albans took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in St Albans differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in St Albans contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is finished. This is because house builders in St Albans tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in St Albans or who has acted in the same development.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. St Albans is where the house is located. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in St Albans are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Albans you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Albans may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.