I am purchasing a end of terrace house in St Annes Park. The intention is to an extension at the rear at the house.Will the conveyancing process involve investigations to determine if these works are permitted?

Your conveyancer should review the registered title as conveyancing in St Annes Park will sometimes reveal restrictions in the title documents which prevent categories of alterations or need the permission of another owner. Some extensions require local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Many areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or affect extensions. It would be wise to check these issues with a surveyor before you commit yourself to a purchase.

I have paid off my mortgage with Aldermore. I assume I don't need a St Annes Park solicitor on the Aldermore panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Aldermore mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Aldermore mortgage from the register. Aldermore, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Aldermore has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Aldermore has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I had an offer accepted on an apartment in St Annes Park on 2/12/2024, valuation was booked 2 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Leeds Building Society and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Are Leeds Building Society entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Leeds Building Society to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Do I need to take out insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when purchasing a property in St Annes Park?

Unless a prior acquisition of the property completed after 12 October 2013 you could take it that lawyers delivering conveyancing in St Annes Park to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

I was recommended by numerous selling agents in St Annes Park to choose a conveyancer on your site. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your lawyers over and above a competitor’s?

We refuse to make any financial incentive for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

In my capacity as executor for the will of my father I am disposing of a residence in Neath but reside in St Annes Park. My conveyancer (based 200 kilometers awayhas requested that I sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing solicitor in St Annes Park who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?

strictly speaking you should not be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are St Annes Park based

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in St Annes Park where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local St Annes Park conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in St Annes Park - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

For most St Annes Park leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be built into the maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in St Annes Park ask leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works. How much is the ground rent and service charge?