Having sold my house in Kirkbymoorside last July yet the purchaser is texting me to say their lawyer is waiting to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?

Following your house sale your conveyancer is obliged to forward the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your conveyancer should also send confirmation that the mortgage has been discharged to the buyers conveyancers. There are no post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Kirkbymoorside.

Is it the case that all Kirkbymoorside solicitors on the Aldermore conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the SRA. Many lenders do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I'm in the throws of viewing flats in Kirkbymoorside and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a mortgage with Bank of Ireland.

You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their details on to the EA. As you are obtaining a mortgage with Bank of Ireland, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.

My offer on a property in Kirkbymoorside has been accepted, the owners do nevertheless have an associated purchase. The owners have offered on a property, but it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other apartments booked. I have selected a local conveyancing solicitor in Kirkbymoorside. What do I do now? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Skipton?

It is understandable to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Kirkbymoorside conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to check that your conveyancer is on the Skipton approved list. Concerning the next stages this very much depends on the specifics of your case, attraction to this property and on the state of the market. In a rising market many home buyers would apply for the mortgage with Skipton and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their property lawyer to move forward with the conveyancing in Kirkbymoorside.

Will my solicitor be asking questions regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Kirkbymoorside.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers dealing with homes in Kirkbymoorside. Plenty of people will purchase a house in Kirkbymoorside, fully expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or dispose of the property. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, however there are a number of checks that may be undertaken by the purchaser or by their solicitors which should give them a better understanding of the risks in Kirkbymoorside. The conventional set of property information forms sent to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard inquiry of the seller to find out whether the property has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the vendor, then a purchaser could issue a compensation claim as a result of such an misleading response. The buyer’s solicitors will also carry out an enviro search. This should higlight whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be initiated.

Am I better off to go with a Kirkbymoorside conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? An old friend can deal with the legal formalities but his firm is located over three hundred kilometers drive away.

The benefit of a local Kirkbymoorside conveyancing firm is that you can pop in to execute documents, deliver your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local knowledge which is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust instructed your friend and the majority were impressed that should surpass using an unknown Kirkbymoorside conveyancing solicitor just because they are local.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kirkbymoorside from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kirkbymoorside can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. A minority of Kirkbymoorside leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.

Kirkbymoorside Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Please note that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the property. Check with your mortgage company that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for 24 months in order to be entitled to extend the lease. Who are the managing agents? Are there any major works in the planning that will increase the maintenance fees?