Having sold my house in Hawes last August yet the purchaser is texting me complaining that his conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What should my lawyer have done following completion?

Post completion of your sale your lawyer is duty bound to deliver the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. If applicable, your lawyer must also send confirmation that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been discharged to the buyers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion formalities specific conveyancing in Hawes.

My apartment in Hawes is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Does my conveyancer need to be on the UBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the UBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.

I have been told that property searches are the primary cause of obstruction in Hawes conveyancing transactions. Is this right?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the top 10 causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Hawes.

How does conveyancing in Hawes differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build residence in Hawes contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is built. This is because builders in Hawes tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Hawes or who has acted in the same development.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Hawes where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Hawes conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Hawes Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Is anyone aware of any major works on the horizon that could add a premium to the maintenance charges? Many Hawes leasehold properties will have a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the freeholder. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this contribution, usually in instalments during the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large sum, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it can be prohibitively expensive. It would be wise to find out as much as possible about the company managing the block as they can either make living at the property much easier or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day issues such as the upkeep of the common parts. Don't be shy to ask other people what they think of their management. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically what you get for your money.