My lawyer has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Totterdown. The seller’s lawyers have suggested title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor says that he must be satisfied that the bank is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your property lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
My husband and I are purchasing a purpose built apartment in Totterdown with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires.We have a Totterdown conveyancing practitioner but Birmingham Midshires informed us his firm is not listed on their approved list of firms. We have to appoint a Birmingham Midshires panel solicitor or keep our high street solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its various provisions, one of which will be that solicitors will be on the Birmingham Midshires solicitor panel. in the past, most mortgage companies had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Birmingham Midshires
We are purchasing a apartment in Totterdown. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we will need to deposit funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our money?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
I am helping my sister sell her flat in Totterdown. Will the solicitor commission an energy assessment or should I organise this?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, EPC’s was retained a required part of selling a property. An energy assessment must be commissioned before the property is put on the market. This is not something that law firms ordinarily organise. If you are instructing a Totterdown conveyancing lawyer they may be willing to arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with long established local assessors
I had an offer accepted on a property in Totterdown on 27/8/2021, valuation was booked 4 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Aldermore and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Are Aldermore entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Aldermore to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
The deeds to my house are lost. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in Totterdown 5 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?
Assuming the title is registered the details of your proprietorship will be retained by HMLR under a Title Number. It is easy to perform a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and get up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for twenty pounds.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Totterdown I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in Totterdown for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
In scouring the web for the phrase on line conveyancing in Totterdown it shows results of many solicitorsin the area. How do I determine which is the suitable conveyancer for the sale of my house?
The preferential method of finding a suitable conveyancer is via trusted testimonial, so seek the opinion of friends and those you trust who have purchased a property in Totterdown or a reputable estate agent or financial adviser. Fees for conveyancing in Totterdown vary, so it's sensible to obtain at least four fee estimates from varying types of law firms. Make sure that you know what costs in the quote includes.