My husband and I are hoping to purchase a flat in Crediton and are in fact using a Crediton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Crediton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Crediton 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.
I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a relatively new development (6 years built) in Crediton. 95% of the properties have already been occupied. Is it strictly necessary to order conveyancing searches for my conveyancing in Crediton?
Where you are obtaining a mortgage, your bank will insist on some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Crediton conveyancing searches are for you to decide upon. No doubt your conveyancer, will 'advise', perhaps in the strongest possible terms, that you should not go ahead without searches, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you demand that your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or you will need to swap to an alternative solicitor for your conveyancing in Crediton.
I have todaybeen informed that Wolstenholmes have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Crediton for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way to see if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Crediton conveyancing specialists.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Crediton I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Crediton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected 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 can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
When it comes to my conveyancing in Crediton should I be paying VAT on the following: (1) Land reg fee on purchase (2) Pre - completion search fee (3) SDLT E submission on purchase (4) Bank TT fee
(1) Land reg fee on purchase - No (2) Pre - completion search fees -No, (such conveyancing searches are HMLR ones and means £4 and possibly £2 bankruptcy per name on your mortgage) (3) SDLT E submission on your purchase - There is no VAT on Stamp Duty. However if the firm is charging a stamp duty e-submission fee as part of their services - some Crediton conveyancers do - that will incur VAT(4) Bank transfer fee - Yes it is for the lawyer's time in submitting the funds this way.