We are looking to buy a house and require a conveyancing solicitor in Totterdown who is on the Coventry BS approved panel. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Coventry BS . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Totterdown.
Is it the case that all Totterdown solicitor practices on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. The majority of banks do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the firms would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
I have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in Totterdown. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform HSBC?
Your original mortgage agreement with HSBC will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact HSBC directly. You need not do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel firm.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Totterdown. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Shortly after, the conveyancer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Coventry BS 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 Coventry BS 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.
Me and my brother purchased a terraced Victorian house in Totterdown. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Santander. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should assess 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 proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Totterdown and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Totterdown. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Totterdown
-
The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please provide evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Totterdown with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Totterdown can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ lawyers. The majority of freeholders or Management Companies in Totterdown levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold home. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Totterdown. If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved. You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.
I acquired a 1st floor flat in Totterdown, conveyancing was carried out January 2005. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Totterdown with a long lease are worth £222,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2096
With 71 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
My 20yr old son is just in the process of moving house, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the offer was accepted on flat we telephoned the mortgage institution to move forward with his. We were very surprised to discover that mortgage companies do not accept all conveyancing practitioner, they have to be on a list, is this right?
Banks ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Totterdown property lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.