My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a house in North Ferriby and have instructed a North Ferriby conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our North Ferriby lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred North Ferriby lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I purchased a freehold residence in North Ferriby but nevertheless charged rent, why is this and what is this?

It is rare for properties in North Ferriby and has limited impact for conveyancing in North Ferriby but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.

Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges date back hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the generation of fresh rentcharges post 1977.

Old rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a one off payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 will be extinguished.

I have todayfound out that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in North Ferriby for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I be sure that the property is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The quickest method to see if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of North Ferriby conveyancing specialists.

I am buying a new build apartment in North Ferriby. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in North Ferriby

The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in North Ferriby where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local North Ferriby conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. This means 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 simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 buyer.

North Ferriby Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying

Is the freehold owned jointly by the leaseholders? This information is helpful as a) areas may cause problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to know about it Many North Ferriby leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the landlord. If you buy the apartment you will have to meet this charge, usually periodically accross the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire as on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.