Our conveyancer has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are buying in Little Hampton. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our conveyancer says that he must ensure that the mortgage company is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?

Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the bank 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 specifications. You and the lender are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.

We're in Little Hampton, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Bank of Ireland , and our solicitor is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

What does a local search tell me regarding the property we're buying in Little Hampton?

Little Hampton conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for instance Searchflow The local search is essential in every Little Hampton conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your new home. The search will supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 subject headings.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Little Hampton with a loan from Birmingham Midshires. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not to tell my lawyer about the deal as it would put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Little Hampton. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Little Hampton - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Little Hampton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees have being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is often retained if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. If a Little Hampton lease has less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your bank that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the premises for a couple of years in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Little Hampton require leasehold owners to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for larger works.