Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Barkingside is more expensive?
Barkingside leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
The mortgage over my property is with UBS for my property in Barkingside. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform UBS?
You must advise UBS prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of UBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that UBS will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact UBS directly. You need not do this via a UBS conveyancing panel lawyer.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Barkingside. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the HSBC panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Barkingside solicitor - who is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Virgin Money will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Virgin Money 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Barkingside surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Just acquired a terraced house in Barkingside , how long will it take for the Land Registry to register the transfer to my name? My Barkingside conveyancing solicitor has been very slow, so I want to be sure that my purchase is registered.
As far as conveyancing in Barkingside is concerned, registration is no faster or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timeframes can differ according to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry need to notify any interested parties. At present approximately three quarters of submission are fully addressed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer hold-ups. Historically registration occurs once the purchaser has moved in to the premises thus an expedited registration is not usually an essential issue but where there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer must communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Barkingside is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Barkingside are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Barkingside you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Barkingside may ascertain 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 property.
Am I best advised to choose a Barkingside conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? An old friend can perform the conveyancing however his firm is located a couple of hundredmiles drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Barkingside conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and the majority were happy that should surpass using an unfamiliar Barkingside conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.