My partner and I are planning to buy a house in Southend and are in fact using a Southend conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Southend lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Southend lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Our Southend solicitor has discovered a difference between the information in the valuation report and what is revealed within the legal papers for the property. My solicitor has advised that he is obliged to check that the bank is happy with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my solicitor’s course or action appropriate?
Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
How does conveyancing in Southend differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Southend contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because new home sellers in Southend tend to buy the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Southend or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £195,000 and found one round the corner in Southend I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Southend suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you require a home loan that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
I am looking into buying my first house which is in Southend and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Southend. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Southend area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Southend. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found