My conveyancer has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are purchasing in Copse Hill. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our property lawyer says that he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the mortgage company does not mean to say that the property will meet their specifications for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. You and the bank are the client. The appropriate lender requirements must be adhered to.
Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Copse Hill costs more?
The conveyancing costs for a leasehold premises in Copse Hill is frequently higher as compared to a freehold acquisition or disposal. This is because there is an amount of extra work necessary in communicating with the freeholder and managing agents to obtain evidence about whether the rent and maintenance fee have been discharged and whether there are any major works due in the foreseeable future on repairs or maintenance of the building.
The Copse Hill conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Copse Hill have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and my previous Copse Hill lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist.
I'm the sole beneficiary of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Copse Hill. The Copse Hill property was put into my name in September. I want to move. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship could be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the property in September. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be caught by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the bank as this provision principally exists to pick up on subsales or the flipping of properties.
We previously instructed conveyancers based in Copse Hill on the TSB solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a separate amount for dealing with the TSB mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by TSB?
As unfair as it may appear, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer can charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by TSB but by your Copse Hill solicitor. Plenty of firms on the TSB panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from TSB as we wish to conduct renovations to our house in Copse Hill. Do we need to appoint a high street Copse Hill solicitor on the TSB conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
TSB do not ordinarily require firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the TSB panel.
I'm converting the mortgage on my existing house to a BTL mortgage with Barclays Direct and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a deposit on another property. The location we are interested in is Copse Hill. Will your solicitors be able to act for the two lenders and tie in the conveyances?
Make use of our comparison tool on this site to be sure that the conveyancers are on the appropriate lender panels. Assuming that they are your lawyer will be able to connect the two transactions but you should talk with you lawyer and specify your desired outcome and requirements.