My lawyer has identified a defect with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Southend On Sea. The other side have put forward defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our solicitor says that he must ensure that the lender is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?

Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their provisions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. You and the mortgage company are the client. These conveyancing instructions have to be complied with.

Why do I have to pay up front for conveyancing in Southend On Sea?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Southend On Sea your solicitor will request that you put them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. Ordinarily this is called for to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. If any deposit is as part of the sale price then this will be required immediately before contracts are exchanged. The final balance that is needed will be payable shortly before completion.

My aunt advised me that in purchasing a property in Southend On Sea there could be various restrictions preventing external alterations to a property. Is this right?

There are a number of properties in Southend On Sea which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Southend On Sea should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I had a mortgage agreed in principle with Principality. Southend On Sea conveyancing practitioners are selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Principality?

Some lenders take longer than others. Have Principality done the survey? Have you advised Principality as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Principality conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Southend On Sea. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A few days later, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Southend On Sea. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Southend On Sea

The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Southend On Sea. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Southend On Sea who previously acted has now retired. Do I pay?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Southend On Sea conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Southend On Sea - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Please inform me if there are any major works in the planning that will likely add a premium to the maintenance fees? On the whole the cost for major works are not built into the maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Southend On Sea require leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property?