I was advised recently by my estate agent that my Gerrards Cross and Chalfont property lawyer is not on the lender Solicitor panel. How can I check?
You need to contact your Gerrards Cross and Chalfont conveyancer. You lawyer should notify you of the situation. Where they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your bank.
Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont costs more?
Gerrards Cross and Chalfont leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving appropriate notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
Me and my partner are purchasing a house in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we will need to send money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
I am purchasing a property in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Barclays have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is Barclays your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions contained in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Barclays. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook stipulates minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Barclays where a lease does not satisfy these requirements. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not restricted to Gerrards Cross and Chalfont.
My fiancee and I are spending time looking at flats in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont and I am about to put in an offer. Is it wise to have a solicitor on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Nationwide.
You should start requesting conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the selling agent. Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Nationwide, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
A friend suggested that if I am purchasing in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Gerrards Cross and Chalfont conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Gerrards Cross and Chalfont around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Gerrards Cross and Chalfont Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Gerrards Cross and Chalfont.
I am employed by a busy estate agency in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Gerrards Cross and Chalfont conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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.
After years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Gerrards Cross and Chalfont. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Gerrards Cross and Chalfont residence is Flats 8, 11 and 15 Craigmore Court 46 Murray Road in December 2013. The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenant of Flat 8 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,438 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee . The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenants of Flat 11 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,791 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee. The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenant of Flat 15 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,638 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee . This case affected 3 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 71 years.