My wife and I are looking to purchase a property in St James and have instructed a St James conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Leeds Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our St James lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own St James solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
We are purchasing a property and require a conveyancing solicitor in St James who is on the TSB approved panel. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for TSB . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in St James.
I am looking to buy a house and need a conveyancing solicitor in St James who is on the Clydesdale solicitor. Can you recommend a local conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Clydesdale in certain locations such as St James. We dont recommend any particular firm.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in St James?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in St James. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am 3 weeks into a residential purchase having been referred to conveyancers by the estate agent to execute conveyancing in St James. I am not happy. Could you help me find new lawyers?
They would need to be really poor to suggest replacing them. Has the mortgage been issued? In the event that it has you need to make them aware of the new contact details and ensure the loan are issued to the new lawyers. Your conveyancer should be on the banks approved list to avoid supplemental charges and delays. That should be your first question of the new lawyers. Our search tool can assist you in finding a lender approved lawyer for your conveyancing in St James
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in St James where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local St James conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
I inherited a a ground floor purpose built flat in St James. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?
if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the price.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a St James flat is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 56 years.