I am assisting my niece sell her house in West London. Does the conveyancing solicitor commission an energy performance certificate or it is for the seller to see to?
After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s remained a mandatory element of moving property. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. This is not as aspect of the sale process that lawyers ordinarily arrange. If you are using a West London conveyancing lawyer they might be able to arrange EPC’s due to their contacts with long established local providers
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in West London. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £200. Not long after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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.
At last I have had an offer on a flat in West London agreed to, the vendors do nevertheless have a dependent purchase. The owners have put an offer on a flat, however it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other properties booked. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in West London. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with Kent Reliance going?
It is usual to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, West London conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must check that your solicitor is on the Kent Reliance approved list. As to the next steps this very much depends on the uniqueness of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market the majority of buyers will apply for a home loan with Kent Reliance and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their conveyancer to proceed with searches.
I require expedited conveyancing in West London as I am under pressure to complete in less than 2 weeks. Fortunately I do not need a mortgage. Can I escape the need for conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
If.Given you are not getting a home loan you have the choice not to have searches conducted although no solicitor would advise that you don't. With lots of history conveyancing in West London the following are examples of issues that can show up and adversely affect the marketability of the property: Enforcement Notices, Overdue Fees, Overdue Grants, Unadopted Roads,...
I used Wolstenholmes a few years ago for my conveyancing in West London. Now, I need my documents however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in West London of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I'm purchasing my first flat in West London with a loan from HSBC Bank. The builders would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not to tell my lawyer about this deal as it would impact my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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.
We're first time buyers - agreed a price, but the agent informed us that the seller will only proceed if we appoint their chosen conveyancers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street conveyancer accustomed to conveyancing in West London
We suspect that the owner is not behind this ultimatum. Should the vendor want ‘a quick sale', alienating a serious buyer is counter productive. Try to communicate with the vendors directly and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to instruct your own,trusted West London conveyancing firm - as opposed tothose that will earn the negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing figures pre-set by HQ.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in West London from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West London can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors. If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of 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 better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved. The majority of landlords or Management Companies in West London levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold home. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West London. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in West London state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you dont have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
Having spent years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West London. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to decide the amount due.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a West London flat is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case affected 2 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72.39 years.