The sellers of the home we are hoping to buy hired a conveyancing firm in West Smithfield who has suggested a preliminary contract with a down payment of 5k. Are such agreements sensible?
There are a couple of primary downsides with executing a lock out contract (sometimes referred to as a shut-out contract) is that it can distract from progressing with the conveyancing work, so unless it requires minimal or no negotiation then it may turn out to be a cause of frustration and delay. It is not strongly advocated by West Smithfield conveyancing solicitors as a result. A further negative is the extent of the remedies available - a jilted buyer is extremely unlikely to be issued with injunctive relief to prevent the vendor completing the sale to an alternative purchaser, so the only remedy open via the agreement will be the reimbursement of wasted costs and, in rare scenarios, the additional payment of penalties.
A relative suggested that if I am buying in West Smithfield I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard West Smithfield conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about West Smithfield around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, West Smithfield Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding West Smithfield.
It has been 2 months following my purchase conveyancing in West Smithfield concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in West Smithfield differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in West Smithfield come to us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because builders in West Smithfield typically acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in West Smithfield or who has acted in the same development.
I was advised by two or three local property agents in West Smithfield to locate a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to promote your site rather than another?
We refuse to make any commission for directing people in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
A licensed conveyancer dealt with my conveyancing in West Smithfield half a dozen years ago and was holding my deeds but has now closed – What steps do I now take to retreive these?
Deeds, as such, are no longer appropriate for most properties in West Smithfield are registered digitally at Land Registry. Should you need to show evidence of proprietorship or are disposing of or refinancing your property lawyer will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.
If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.