I went with a St James based lawyer for my conveyancing in St James yesterday. After carefully reading the terms of engagement I seeI am on the hook for costs even where the transaction does not complete. Should I go with them or instruct an internet conveyancing company advertising no completion no charge conveyancing in St James?
Generally there is a concession along the lines that if "No Completion No Fee" is available then the conveyancing charges will tend to be be higher to cover those transactions that do not proceed. Do bear in mind that such offerings generally do not cover disbursements e.g. St James conveyancing search costs.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in St James costs more?
St James leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as FTB of a ground floor flat in St James. Do I collect the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in St James?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be able to collect the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a St James conveyancer on the Nottingham panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Nottingham mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in St James. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A few days later, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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.
I am buying a house and the solicitor has mentioned Chancel Repair for which the property may be liable as it falls into the area of such a church. She has mentioned insurance. Is this strictly required for conveyancing in St James
Unless a prior acquisition of the property took place post 12 October 2013 you could assume that lawyers delivering conveyancing in St James to remain encouraging a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Am I best advised to choose a St James conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? An old friend can handle the legal formalities but they are based a couple of hundredkilometers away.
The benefit of a local St James conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have instructed your friend and they were content that should surpass using an unfamiliar St James conveyancing solicitor just because they are local.
There are only 68 years remaining on my flat in St James. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering St James.
I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in St James. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension case 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 affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 56 years.