My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Cheam and have appointed a Cheam conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Santander have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Cheam lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Cheam lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Having sold my house in Cheam last April but the buyer keeps SMS messaging daily complaining that his lawyer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities now that I have sold?
Post completion of your sale your lawyer is duty bound to send the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer must also send confirmation that the home loan has been redeemed to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion tasks peculiar conveyancing in Cheam.
I am assisting my aunt sell her house in Cheam. Does the conveyancer arrange an energy assessment or do I organise this?
Following the demise of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates was left as a compulsory component of moving house. An energy assessment must be commissioned prior to the property being advertised. It is not a task that conveyancers normally organise. If you are instructing a Cheam conveyancing solicitor they may help arrange energy assessments given their contacts with long established Cheam accredited person
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as FTB of a garden flat in Cheam. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Cheam?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the seller's solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be called to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Cheam conveyancing practitioner having made sure that they are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Yorkshire BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Yorkshire BS 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 Cheam 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.
I am attracted to a couple of flats in Cheam which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?
A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.
I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Cheam. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Cheam residence is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 60.43 years.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Cheam.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated however I have recently had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the service charge as normal as all ground rent and service payments will be apportionedon completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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