My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a property in Upper Walthamstow and have instructed a Upper Walthamstow conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nationwide Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Upper Walthamstow solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Upper Walthamstow solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
The owners have rather pushy sellers who has recommended a preliminary agreement with a deposit of 5k. Are such arrangements recommended for Upper Walthamstow conveyancing transactions?
Exclusivity contracts are contracts binding a home owner and purchaser giving the buyer the sole right to the sale of the premises for a set period of time. For all intents and purposes, an exclusivity agreement is a contract specifying that you should receive a contract at a later time which is the main conveyancing contract. It tends to be used for buyer assurance though in many situations, the proprietor may enjoy an upside from such agreements as well. There are various positives and negatives to having an agreement but you should to check with your lawyer but beware that it may result in costing you more in conveyancing fees. For this these contracts are unusual in relation to conveyancing in Upper Walthamstow.
My lawyer in Upper Walthamstow is not on the The Mortgage Works Solicitor Panel. Can I still use my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the The Mortgage Works panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Upper Walthamstow solicitors but The Mortgage Works will need to retain a solicitor on their panel. This will result in additional total conveyancing fees and result in frustration.
- Get an alternative practitioner to to deal with the purchase, remembering to check they are The Mortgage Works approved.
- Try to convince your The Mortgage Works solicitor to attempt to join the The Mortgage Works panel
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Upper Walthamstow I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Upper Walthamstow suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
I have been pointed in your direction by a number of selling agents in Upper Walthamstow to choose a conveyancer on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to promote your services rather than another?
We don’t give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Upper Walthamstow. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Upper Walthamstow - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
After months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Upper Walthamstow. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the price.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Upper Walthamstow residence is 32 Howard Road in June 2012. the Tribunal held that premium payable for the freehold reversion should be £35,825 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 64 years.
