I am obtaining a mortgage with Halifax. I intend to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Chertsey. Does the Halifax Conveyancing panel include Licensed Conveyancers?

The Halifax conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

We have rather assertive vendors who has recommended a preliminary contract with a non-refundable deposit 10k. Are such agreements sensible?

Exclusivity agreements are contracts between a home vendor and purchaser granting the buyer the sole right to purchase the premises within a prescribed time frame. For all intents and purposes, an exclusivity is a document stating that you should have a contract at a later time being the main conveyancing contract. It tends to be utilised for buyer confidence though in many situations, the vendor may stand to benefit from such agreements as well. There are many positives and negatives to having an agreement but you need to check with your solicitor but beware that it may end up costing you more in conveyancing charges. In light of this these agreements are rare when it comes to conveyancing in Chertsey.

Am I best advised to instruct a Chertsey conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am buying? I have an old university friend who can execute the legal formalities however his firm is located a couple of hundredmiles away.

The benefit of a high street Chertsey conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a benefit. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and they were content that should surpass using an unknown Chertsey conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.

Last July I purchased a leasehold flat in Chertsey. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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).

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in Chertsey. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Chertsey conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Chertsey residence is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 82.93 years.

Can you clarify the nature of conveyancing offered by Chertsey conveyancing organisations?

In the main Chertsey conveyancing practices tend to handle various services to residential and agricultural land proprietors, vendors, investors, freeholders and leaseholders and you can expect them to offer expert advice on some of the following services:

Property sale conveyancing in Chertsey and nationally Domestic purchase conveyancing in Chertsey and nationwide Conveyancing for new build properties Residential conveyancing using Islamic Mortgages Transfer of property or a share in a property Disposal and purchase of shared ownership properties countrywide rather than isolated to Chertsey