Having sold my house in Sherwood last August but the buyer keeps whats apping daily complaining that his lawyer is waiting to hear from myconveyancer. What should have happened now that I have sold?

Following your house sale your lawyer should forward the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s lawyers. If applicable, your lawyer must also evidence that the mortgage has been paid off to the purchasers lawyers. There are no post completion formalities peculiar conveyancing in Sherwood.

My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Sherwood. Conveyancing is required. What are my next steps?

Having legally bound yourself to purchase you now have to instruct a conveyancing lawyer soon as you will have a fast approaching deadline in which to complete the property. An auction property will ordinarily have a bespoke legal set of papers. This will include evidence of title and search results. In the case of leasehold premises the auction pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing paperwork pertinent to leasehold premises. You need to hand this to the lawyer working for you ASAP. You also need to ensure that your finances are in place to complete on the date specified in the contract.

I have a mortgage with Skipton for my property in Sherwood. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Skipton?

You must advise Skipton before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Skipton’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Skipton 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 Skipton directly. You need not do this via a Skipton conveyancing panel firm.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Sherwood. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £175. Shortly after, the conveyancer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the UBS 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 UBS 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.

Will my lawyer be asking questions regarding flooding during the conveyancing in Sherwood.

Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Sherwood. There are those who buy a house in Sherwood, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that can be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Sherwood. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a standard question of the owner to discover if the premises has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer could commence a compensation claim as a result of such an misleading reply. The purchaser’s conveyancers should also order an environmental report. This will disclose whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be made.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Sherwood is the location of the property. Can you offer any guidance?

Flying freeholds in Sherwood are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Sherwood you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Sherwood may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Sherwood where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Sherwood conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Sherwood - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

What prohibitions are there in the Sherwood Lease? What is the name of the managing agents? Be sure to find out if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Sherwood leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Sherwood. If you like the propertyin Sherwood yet your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced hard compromise.