Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Woodbury is more expensive?
Woodbury leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
I'm the only recipient of my late grandmother’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Woodbury. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in January. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in January. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook obliges conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you could be affected by that. many lenders would take a practical view as this clause is principally there to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Woodbury. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
UBS have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a apartment in Woodbury has been accepted, what are the next steps?
Your property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the property lawyers are on the bank’s approved list). Contact UBS or your financial adviser and complete any outstanding paperwork. UBS will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or owners to book a time for the valuation to take place. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes on average a week to receive the mortgage offer. UBS will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Woodbury.
A relative recommended that if I am buying in Woodbury I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Woodbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Woodbury around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Woodbury Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Woodbury.
It has been four months following my purchase conveyancing in Woodbury took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 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 asset 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.
I am looking for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Woodbury I like with a park and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Woodbury in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Woodbury where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Woodbury conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Woodbury - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying
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The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. You should be aware if it is less than eighty years it will impact the salability of the apartment. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease. How much is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent?