My lawyer in Leicestershire is not on the Alliance & Leicester Approved Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Alliance & Leicester list of approved lawyers?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Leicestershire lawyers but Alliance & Leicester will need to retain a lawyer on their panel. This will result in additional total conveyancing charges as well as result in delays.
- Find an alternative solicitor to act in the purchase, remembering to check they are on the Alliance & Leicester panel
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a ground floor flat in Leicestershire. Do I pick up the keys to the property on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Leicestershire?
On the day of completion you will not be required to go to the conveyancers office in Leicestershire. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
The mortgage over my property is with TSB for my property in Leicestershire. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform TSB?
TSB must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of TSB’s mortgage conditions. It may be that TSB will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact TSB directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a TSB conveyancing panel firm.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Leicestershire. My mortgage broker suggested a lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Soon after, the property lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the HSBC panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in Leicestershire. I have land on a site which looks to be the ideal offering If it is possible to get all the legals done via web that would be preferable. Should I be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Leicestershire conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Leicestershire conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Leicestershire conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions might be helpful:
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Can they put you in touch with clients in Leicestershire who can give a testimonial? What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?
I own a 2 bed flat in Leicestershire, conveyancing was carried out June 2011. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Leicestershire with a long lease are worth £181,000. The ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2077
You have 51 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £30,400 and £35,200 plus professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.
We are in the process of buying a house in Leicestershire. Can the solicitor have our transaction price a secret from the likes of Nestoria. what can I do to make sure this is not noted?
The Land Registry are legally obliged to note price sold information on a register of the title for residential properties nationwide including premises in Leicestershire. The register of ownership is an open document, so the Land Registry would be breaching their statutory duty if they did not permit access to the register.
You can make a request of HM Land Registry to hide the amount paid data however the answer will be in the negative.