I am in need of a conveyancer. Should I go for for a national conveyancer as opposed to a high street Thornton Heath conveyancing lawyer?
Thornton Heath is a special area, where regional experience counts for a lot. The laid-back lifestyle has an upside – just not when it comes to your house move. The solicitors that we list providing wide Thornton Heath insight with a positive, can doapproach that helps the conveyancing to progress without drama. It is a definite plus where they enjoy long term rapport with mortgage brokers, local authorities, valuers and counterpart Thornton Heath conveyancing practices
Me and my partner are buying a flat in Thornton Heath. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a lawyer? On the day of competition we have to send funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
We previously appointed conveyancers locally in Thornton Heath on the Santander solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further fee for handling the Santander mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Santander?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your solicitor may charge a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Santander but by your Thornton Heath conveyancer. Plenty of firms on the Santander panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
Having digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Thornton Heath solicitor - who is on the Skipton conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Skipton will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Skipton will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Thornton Heath postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Skipton, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Thornton Heath.
A colleague advised me that if I am buying in Thornton Heath I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Thornton Heath conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Thornton Heath around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Thornton Heath Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Thornton Heath.
Me and my brother have a terraced Edwardian house in Thornton Heath. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Yorkshire Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Thornton Heath and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Thornton Heath is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Thornton Heath are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Thornton Heath you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Thornton Heath may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.