The vendors of the home we are hoping to buy are using a conveyancing solicitor in Sparkhill who has suggested a exclusivity agreement with a deposit 6,000. Are such agreements sensible?

Exclusivity agreements are agreements binding a property owner and prospective acquirer granting the buyer a ‘clear field’ to purchase the premises for a certain period of time. For all intents and purposes, an exclusivity agreement is a contract stating that you will be issued with a contract at a later time being the contract for the actual sale. It is generally utilised for buyer protection though in some cases, the vendor may stand to benefit from such agreements as well. There are various positives and negatives to having them but you need to check with your solicitor but note that it may end up incurring more in conveyancing charges. For this these contracts are unusual in relation to conveyancing in Sparkhill.

What is your number one tip for finding a conveyancing solicitor in Sparkhill

It would be unwise to be seduced by the lowest Sparkhill conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.

We have agreed to purchase a house in Sparkhill. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. RBS have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with RBS your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for RBS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook stipulates minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to RBS where a lease does not meet these specifications. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not isolated to Sparkhill.

Barclays have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a property in Sparkhill has been accepted, what are the next steps?

Your property agent will wish to know who your solicitors are (make sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s panel). Telephone Barclays or the financial adviser and finish off any appropriate documentation. Barclays will appoint a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or vendor to schedule a time for the valuation to happen. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a week for the mortgage offer to be issued. Barclays will send the offer to you and your lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Sparkhill.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Sparkhill. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Sparkhill

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. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Please supply a car parking plan. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Sparkhill I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Sparkhill suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.

I have been advised by numerous property agents in Sparkhill to get a quote from a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to market your services over another?

We don’t give any commission for directing people our way. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.