We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers located in Romsey on the Aldermore solicitor panel. They have just billed me an additional charge for dealing with the Aldermore mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Aldermore?

As unfair as it may appear, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your solicitor can levy a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by Aldermore but by your Romsey solicitor. Plenty of firms on the Aldermore panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but plenty of practices include it on their overall fee.

My husband and I have organised the release of further funds on our home loan from Santander as we intend to carry out renovations to our home in Romsey. Do we need to appoint a nearby Romsey solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Santander do not ordinarily appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Santander conveyancing panel.

My wife and I are spending time viewing houses in Romsey and I am about to put in an offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I am planning to take a home loan with UBS.

It would be sensible to commence your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their details on to the estate agent. As you are obtaining a mortgage with UBS, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the UBS conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

Is it necessary to take out insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when acquiring a property in Romsey?

Unless a prior acquisition of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in Romsey to remain encouraging a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.

I have todayfound out that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Romsey for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 9 months ago. How can I establish that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?

The easiest method to check if the premises is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Romsey conveyancing specialists.

I'm buying my first flat in Romsey with the aid of help to buy. The builders refused to reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The house builders rep advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about this deal as it would affect my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

Last August I purchased a leasehold flat in Romsey. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Romsey Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Many Romsey leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to pay this liability, usually quarterly accross the year. This can be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check it because on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive. How much is the annual service fee and ground rent? Who are the managing agents?