My solicitor has discovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Yatton. The seller’s lawyers have suggested title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor has advised that he must check that the bank is content with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the bank?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. Your conveyancing practitioner must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the lender can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your solicitor will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a 1st time buyer of a ground floor flat in Yatton. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Yatton?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the completion advance to the owner’s conveyancers, and once they have received this, you should be able to pick up the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.
How can we tell if a Yatton conveyancing solicitor on the Lloyds panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in Yatton seeking recommendations is a good start. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one advertising the lowest fees. We would always advocate that you speak with the solicitor handling your transaction.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Yatton. My mortgage broker suggested a lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A few days later, the solicitor called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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.
How does conveyancing in Yatton differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Yatton approach us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is completed. This is because house builders in Yatton tend to buy the real estate, 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 Yatton or who has acted in the same development.
What tools are available to locate a Yatton solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 20kilometers to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the tool on this website. Please choose the bank and your location and you will see a number of Yatton conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Yatton conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can ring them to see whether they are on the Bank of Ireland panel
I am four weeks into a freehold purchase having been referred to conveyancers by the local agent to handle our conveyancing in Yatton. We are not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
A conveyancer would have to be really bad in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage been issued? If so you need to inform them of the replacement lawyer and get the mortgage documents are re-issued. The solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks panel to avoid added costs and frustration. So that should be your first question of the new solicitors. The search tool can assist you in finding a lender approved solicitor for your home move in Yatton
I've recently bought a leasehold house in Yatton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Yatton Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying
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Most Yatton leasehold properties will have a service bill for maintenance of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the apartment you will have to pay this liability, normally quarterly accross the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a significant figure, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. On the whole the cost for major works are not incorporated into the maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Yatton obliged tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. It would be sensible to discover as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they will either make your living at the property much simpler or a lot more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are often in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day issues like the tidiness of the common parts. Enquire of other tenants whether they are happy with them. In conclusion, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the relevant party and specifically what you get for your money.