Our family solicitor has quoted £1700 for fixed fee conveyancing in St James. I am looking to sell a Victorian property for £300,000. This sounds over the top. Is it in excess of the norm for conveyancing in St James?
The estimate does seem a tad steep. If you shop around you might get the conveyancing a bit cheaper by perhaps a hundred pounds. On the other hand, you couldcome to regret choosing an a cheaper conveyancer. Don't forget to check the solicitor can represent your lender. Do utilise our search tool to locate a St James conveyancing practice on the banks conveyancing panel which can often include conveyancing solicitors in St James.
How up to date is your search tool for St James conveyancing solicitors on the Santander conveyancing panel? Do Santander send you an updated list?
St James conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Santander conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Santander directly.
My grandfather passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in St James. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to HSBC, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Given you intend to re-mortgage then HSBC will insist on your using a conveyancer on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the HSBC mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I understand that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I require this when buying a residence in St James? or I am told that there is an ancient law that could mean that homeowners residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to contribute towards maintenance to the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in St James?
Unless a prior purchase of the property took place after 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in St James to remain recommending a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Me and my brother purchased a terraced Edwardian house in St James. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Clydesdale. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. Is it worth asking Clydesdale to clarify?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in St James and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
We own a leasehold flat in St James. Conveyancing was finished in five years ago. I have read on numerous advice forums that I mustn’t allow the the remaining lease term to get too low. Why is that a problem?
St James leasehold properties are for a fixed term - normally ninety nine years when they started. However many flats in St James were built or converted in the 60’s and so such leases now have under eighty years remaining. That may sound like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders on the whole require leases to have a minimum of 75 years remaining to adequate security. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are getting close to eighty years. To optimize the saleability of your property you should be considering whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also advantages to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease is below eighty years the premium you have to pay to extend starts to escalate.