Having sold my house in Wareham last April but our buyer keeps telephoning me complaining that his solicitor is waiting to hear from mylawyer. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?

Following your sale your lawyer is obliged to forward the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. If applicable, your solicitor must also send confirmation that the mortgage has been repaid to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion formalities specific conveyancing in Wareham.

Have just purchased a repossessed house at auction in Wareham. Conveyancing is necessary. What happens now?

Having to in every practical sense signed on the dotted line you will need to choose a conveyancing practitioner quickly as you will have a tight a drop dead date to complete the deal. All auction property will have a bespoke legal pack. This will likely include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. In the case of leasehold property the legal papers should provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork specific to leasehold premises. You must hand this to the conveyancer instructed by you as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that you have funds in order to complete on the on the contractual date .

I am purchasing a property in Wareham. One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Co-operative have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

As your lender is Co-operative your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions set out in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Co-operative. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook sets out minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Co-operative where a lease does not meet these specifications. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not restricted to Wareham.

Yorkshire BS have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a property in Wareham has been accepted, now what?

The property agent will want to be informed of your conveyancing practitioner's details (make sure the solicitors are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Yorkshire BS or the broker and finalise any outstanding documentation. Yorkshire BS will appoint a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or seller to arrange a slot for the valuation to happen. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about ten days to receive the mortgage offer. Yorkshire BS will send the offer to you and your conveyancers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Wareham.

Should our solicitor be raising questions concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Wareham.

Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors specialising in conveyancing in Wareham. Some people will buy a house in Wareham, fully expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Conveyancers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that can be initiated by the buyer or by their conveyancers which can figure out the risks in Wareham. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms supplied to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a usual inquiry of the seller to determine whether the property has suffered from flooding. In the event that flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the vendor, then a purchaser may bring a claim for damages as a result of such an incorrect answer. A buyer’s conveyancers should also conduct an enviro search. This will reveal whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries should be initiated.

I am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Wareham I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, however it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Wareham suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 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 existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

I work for a long established estate agency in Wareham where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Wareham conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Wareham Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

What restrictions are contained in the Wareham Lease? The answer will be useful as a) areas may result in problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if repairs are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have all the details What is the name of the managing agents?