Would the conveyancing solicitors that you recommend handle auction conveyancing in Blakelaw?

There are a few niche practitioners we can connect you with those specialising in auction conveyancing. Blakelaw is one of hundreds of locations where our lawyers have offices.

I have paid off my mortgage with TSB. I assume I don't need a Blakelaw conveyancing practitioner on the TSB panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your TSB mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the TSB mortgage from the register. TSB, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where TSB has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. TSB has instructed the Land Registry to do so

After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Blakelaw. My mortgage broker suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Not long after, the lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS 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.

I've digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Blakelaw solicitor - who is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

Kent Reliance will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Kent Reliance will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Blakelaw surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

It has been 2 months following my purchase conveyancing in Blakelaw concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £215,000. 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 buying a new build apartment in Blakelaw. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Blakelaw

Please supply a car parking plan. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Blakelaw from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Blakelaw can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers’ representatives.
If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Blakelaw home move. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Blakelaw leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand. If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

Blakelaw Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

In the main the cost for major works are not wrapped into the maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Blakelaw ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger works. How is the lease structured? What is the the remaining lease term?