I was told yesterday by my financial adviser that my St James lawyer is not on the lender Solicitor panel. How can I check?
Your first step should be to call your St James conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to advise you of the situation. Where they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.
We're in St James, First time buyers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Yorkshire BS , and our lawyer is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as a 1st time purchaser of a ground floor flat in St James. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will find a High Street conveyancing solicitor in St James?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in St James. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
We previously chose solicitors based in St James on the Virgin Money solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a supplemental amount for dealing with the Virgin Money mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Virgin Money?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your property lawyer is entitled to levy a fee for this. The fee is not set by Virgin Money but by your St James lawyer. Numerous firms on the Virgin Money panel will levy an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I am selling my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in July 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, TSB are being problematic. The St James solicitor who is on the TSB conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but TSB are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do TSB have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that TSB have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why TSB 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.
How does conveyancing in St James differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in St James come to us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because house builders in St James typically buy 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 James or who has acted in the same development.
I'm converting the mortgage on my current house to a BTL loan with HSBC Bank and intend to use the remaining equity towards another house. The neighborhood we are looking at is St James. Will your solicitors be able to act for the two lenders and link together the transactions?
Do use our search tool on this site to ensure that the lawyers are approved by both lenders. Assuming that they are the lawyer will be able to simultaneously deal with the two deals but you should have a chat with you solicitor and communicate your expectations and needs.
I work for a long established estate agent office in St James where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local St James conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.
After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St James. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a St James conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St James residence 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 was in relation to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 56 years.