My partner and I are acquiring a maisonette in Preston. My property lawyer has never been on on the lender conveyancing list. Am I still permitted to use my Preston conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the mortgage company panel?
Various options include
- Proceed with your existing Preston solicitor but your bank will need to use a conveyancing practitioner from their approved list. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
- Choose a new conveyancer to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your lawyer to attempt to join the bank panel
Having sold my house in Preston last October yet the purchaser is whats apping me to moan that her solicitor is waiting to hear from mine. What should have happened now that I have sold?
Post completion of your sale your conveyancer is obliged to send the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor must also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been repaid to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion tasks just for conveyancing in Preston.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in Preston for our house purchase. Our financial adviser informed us that our mortgage lenders Alliance & Leicester won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
Lenders on the whole restrict either the category or the volume of conveyancing solicitors on their member panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a law practice must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, a few banks have decided to limit the number of firms they allow to represent them. Be aware that Alliance & Leicester have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Alliance & Leicester Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the reduction of conveyancing panels since 2008 even though there remains mixed views about the extent of solicitor engagement in some of that fraud. Data from the Land Registry indicate that hundreds of law firms, including some in or near Preston only perform one or two conveyances a year.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Preston?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Preston. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Preston which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Preston is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the value of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Preston conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can one apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Preston conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?
Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Preston conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Preston property is Ground Floor Flat 79 London Road in September 2012. the Tribunal held that the premium payable for the lease extension should be £7,636 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 74 years.