I am purchasing a house mortgage free in Chantry. I have lived for the last 20 years in Chantry. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I know the road and vicinity very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a home loan, then all but one or two of the Chantry conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will try and steer you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but he has a professional duty to take that path of advice. Do bear in mind; if you are intend to sell the house in the future, it will be of relevance to your future purchaser what the searches determine. Sometimes properties with functional issues can still throw up adverse search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Chantry should be able to give you some practical advice here.

I am helping my mother sell her flat in Chantry. Will the solicitor order the energy performance certificate or do I organise this?

Following the abolition of Home Packs, energy performance certificates remained a required component of moving property. An energy assessment should be to hand prior to the property being placed on the market. It is not as aspect of the sale process that lawyers ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Chantry conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange energy assessments given their contacts with reputable local assessors

Is there a list of TSB panel conveyancers in Chantry on the Building Society Association’s Website?

Unfortunately not yet. There is no such facility on the CML or Building Society Association sites. Very few banks make their panel listings open the public online. If you are seeking to appoint a Chantry property lawyer on the TSB please use our facility.

I've read lots of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Chantry solicitor - who is on the Santander conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?

Santander will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Santander 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 conveyancer 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 Chantry postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Santander, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Chantry.

My husband and I are 3 weeks into a residential purchase having been directed to a firm by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in Chantry. We are not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new lawyers?

A solicitor would need to be really bad in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage offer been generated? If so you must make them aware of the new contact details and have the mortgage documents are re-sent. Your new solicitor ideally should be on the mortgage company panel to avoid supplemental costs and delays. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The search tool will assist you in finding a bank approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Chantry

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Chantry what are the most frequent lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Chantry is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Skipton Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Chantry Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are content with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Chantrylease extensions you will be required to have owned the property for a couple of years before you are entitled to carry out a lease extension. Its a good idea to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they will either make your life much simpler or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the upkeep of the common parts. You should not be afraid to ask other tenants if they are happy with their management. Finally, find out the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. What is the service charge and ground rent on the apartment?

My parents are having difficulties in finding their Chantry land registry title on the site. They have a vague memory back in the 70’s when they purchased the house there were complications regarding the address not being recognised in some systems.

The vast majority of properties in Chantry should show up. Have you endevoured to search to just the postcode. Usually it will mention all the properties inside that postcode. Assuming the property is recorded it will be there with a title number. If they bought fifty years ago it's conceivable it may be unrecorded. The address might still be revealed but with the title number shown 'na'. In this scenario you will need to track down the original title papers which might be with your parent’s bank.