I am assisting my aunt sell her property in Hitchin. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission the energy performance certificate or should I organise this?
After the demise of HIPs, energy performance certificates was maintained a compulsory component of moving house. An energy assessment must be commissioned in advance of the property being placed on the market. This is not a task that lawyers ordinarily arrange. Where you are instructing a Hitchin conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy performance certificates given their contacts with long established Hitchin energy assessors
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Hitchin. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
Bank of Ireland have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Hitchin has been agreed to, now what?
Your estate agent will need to know who your solicitors are (ensure that the property lawyers are on the bank’s approved list). Call up Bank of Ireland or the broker and complete any relevant paperwork. Bank of Ireland will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or seller to arrange a time for the valuation to occur. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Bank of Ireland will issue the offer to you and your solicitors. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Hitchin.
I am downsizing from our house in Hitchin and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A high street Hitchin lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers used a national conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Hitchin. We have lived in Hitchin for three years we know of no issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation need.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor already. Are they able to advise? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Hitchin I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Hitchin for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
Hoping to buy a property located in Hitchin and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Hitchin. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Hitchin area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Hitchin. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
Builders have put forward a conveyancer and I've received a quote from them. It's almost two hundred pounds cheaper than my own Hitchin conveyancer. Should I use them?
Housebuilders frequently have panels of conveyancing practitioners who expedite matters and who know the developer’s contract and property lawyer. Plenty of developers offer an incentive to choose a preferred lawyer for this reason, any increased fees can be avoided and a developer will not put forward a conveyancing warehouse and run the risk of having the transaction delayed when they need an exchange in 28 days. A counter-argument for not agreeing to use the recommended lawyer is that they may be hesitant to fight for your interests at the risk of alienating the sellers. Where you have concerns that this may be the case you should keep with your local Hitchin lawyer.