When can the exchange of contracts happen for sale conveyancing in Rayleigh and do I need to be at the solicitors office?

Where you are in close proximity to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Rayleigh you are welcome to attend to sign contracts. That being said, the law practices we work with provide a national conveyancing service and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the property agreement is not the critical part. A signed contract is just a prerequisite for the solicitor to address the formalities when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Rayleigh)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.

The Rayleigh conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Rayleigh have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the HSBC conveyancing panel and my preferred Rayleigh lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the HSBC conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.

I am buying a new build house in Rayleigh with a loan from Virgin Money. The sellers would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The estate agent suggested that I not reveal to my conveyancer about this deal as it would jeopardize my mortgage with Virgin Money. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Rayleigh conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Rayleigh conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Rayleigh conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions might be useful:

What are the legal fees for lease extension work? If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Leasehold Conveyancing in Rayleigh - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Are there any major works anticipated that could increase the maintenance fees? The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is usually retained if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. Please note that where the lease has less than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the flat. Check with your bank that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Rayleighlease extensions you would need to own the premises for a couple of years before you are entitled to carry out a lease extension.

What is the reason for new build conveyancing in Rayleigh being more expensive?

Conveyancing in Rayleigh for recently converted or new build homes can sometimes involve adoption of highways & drains, building regulations approval, planning permission, new build warranties such NHBC as well as additional investigations and contractual considerations.