How do I find the right solicitor to give a high level service for our conveyancing in Penrith?

First ask connections who they used in the past and if they were happy with the service.

Second, search the web for conveyancing in Penrith. Call a couple or more firms from the list and invite them to send you their conveyancing quote and speak to the lawyer who will oversee your legal process ahead ofmaking your decision.

Third is to use our search tool to assist you in finding the right lawyers taking into account your individual requirements including location,speed, complexity and who your intended mortgage company is. Avoid the trap of appointing low cost conveyancing in Penrith

We're in Penrith, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Barclays , and our solicitor is on the Barclays conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no lawyer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

I just acquired a house at auction in Penrith. Conveyancing is required. What is next?

Now that you have exchanged you will need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner soon as you are faced with a tight deadline in which to complete the purchase. An auction property will ordinarily have an associated legal pack. This will include evidence of title and search results. In the case of leasehold premises the conveyancing pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork pertinent to a leasehold property. You must pass this on to your appointed conveyancing solicitor ASAP. Do make sure that that you have the requisite funding in order to complete on the date specified in the contract.

is it true that all Penrith conveyancing solicitors on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Kent Reliance approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers with offices in Penrith on the Co-operative solicitor panel. They are now charging me a further sum for dealing with the Co-operative mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Co-operative?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your conveyancer may charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Co-operative but by your Penrith conveyancing practitioner. Some firms on the Co-operative panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

Am I better off to choose a Penrith conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am buying? I have an old university friend who can carry out the legal work but her office is 400miles away.

The benefit of a high street Penrith conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, hand in your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who instructed your friend and they were content that should outweigh using an unfamiliar Penrith conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.

I work for a long established estate agency in Penrith where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Penrith conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.

Penrith Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the flat? Most Penrith leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block set by the management company. If you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically throughout the year. This can differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to enquire as on occasion it can be surprisingly expensive.