My partner and I are looking to purchase a house in Morpeth and are in fact using a Morpeth conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Clydesdale have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Morpeth solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor 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 and you may continue to use your own Morpeth solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Having sold my house in Morpeth last June but our buyer keeps texting daily to say his lawyer needs to hear from mysolicitor. What should have happened following completion?
After completion of your sale your conveyancer should forward the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. Where relevant, your conveyancer must also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been repaid to the purchasers lawyers. There is unlikely to be post completion formalities peculiar conveyancing in Morpeth.
My Solicitor in Morpeth is not listed on the HSBC Bank Conveyancing Panel. Can I still use my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the HSBC Bank panel?
The limited options open to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Morpeth solicitors but HSBC Bank will need to instruct a lawyer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total legal charges as well as cause delays.
- Choose a new practitioner to act in the conveyancing, remembering to check they are on the HSBC Bank panel
I have been told that property searches are the main reason for stalling in Morpeth house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Morpeth.
I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Morpeth which have about forty five years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Morpeth is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Morpeth conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I am the registered owner of a leasehold flat in Morpeth, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Morpeth with an extended lease are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2091
You have 67 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £10,500 and £12,000 plus professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.