Should conveyancers ask for an advanced payment for conveyancing in North Acton?

If you are buying a property in North Acton your solicitor will request that you put them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any deposit is payable against the purchase price then this should be asked for immediately prior to contracts are exchanged. Any further balance that is needed should be sent to your lawyer shortly before completion.

The North Acton conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in North Acton have without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a lawyer on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and my family North Acton lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist.

We are buying a detached bungalow in North Acton. The intention is to an extension at the rear at the property.Will legal work on the property involve checks to see if these works are allowed?

Your solicitor will check the registered title as conveyancing in North Acton can occasionally identify restrictions in the title documents which prohibit certain works or need the consent of another owner. Some extensions need local authority planning permissions and approval in compliance with building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.

My wife and I have arranged the release of further funds on our mortgage from TSB as we want to carry out a loft conversion to our home in North Acton. Do we need to select a local North Acton solicitor on the TSB conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?

TSB do not ordinarily appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the TSB conveyancing panel.

My offer was accepted on a house in North Acton on 19/3/2024, valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Co-operative and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

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

My husband and I are novice buyers - had an offer accepted, yet the property agent told us that the seller will only move forward if we instruct their recommended solicitors as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. We would rather use a high street conveyancer used to conveyancing in North Acton

We suspect that the owner is unaware of this ultimatum. Should the owner require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is going to damage their objectives. Contact the sellers directly and make the point that (a)you are genuine buyers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you are going to appoint your preferred North Acton conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will earn their estate agent a referral fee or meet his conveyancing thresholds set by senior management.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in North Acton. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have recently received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the service charge as usual because all ground rent and maintenance payments should be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am the proprietor of a two-bedroom flat in North Acton. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a North Acton residence is 49 Long Drive in March 2014. The tribunal concluded that the price payable for the freehold interest in the Property should be £26,491 divided as to £12,546 in respect of the ground floor flat and £13,945 in respect of the
first floor flat This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 68.47 years.