It is a dozen years since I bought my home in St Luke's. Conveyancing lawyers have just been appointed on the sale but I am unable to track down the title documents. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the lender or they may stored with the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers procuring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in St Luke's involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
Are the BSA intent on creating a searchable register to list solicitors on the Earl Shilton BS conveyancing panel for instance in St Luke's?
Lexsure has not been advised of any intention on the part of the BSA to promote such a register.
My wife and I are spending time looking at houses in St Luke's and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it advisable to have a lawyer on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a home loan with Lloyds.
It would be sensible to commence your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the selling agent. As you are getting a mortgage with Lloyds, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in St Luke's. I have a mortgage agreed with Barclays. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Barclays, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel.
I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in July 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, Aldermore are being difficult. The St Luke's solicitor who is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but Aldermore are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Aldermore have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Aldermore have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Aldermore 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.
Is it necessary to pay for insurance to cover chancel repairs when purchasing a residence in St Luke's?
Unless a previous purchase of the premises took place after 12 October 2013 you could expect conveyancing practitioners carrying out conveyancing in St Luke's to continue to suggest a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
I am buying a new build house in St Luke's with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent suggested that I not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it may jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. St Luke's is the location of the property. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in St Luke's are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Luke's you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Luke's may determine 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 property.