Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in St Columb even if I’m not buying or selling a house, for example if I want to acquire a shop in St Columb with a mortgage from HSBC Bank?

The service is primarily used to help choose residential conveyancing solicitors in St Columb but we have listed towards the bottom of this page some St Columb commercial conveyancing firms. You will need to make contact with the firm directly to establish if they can also act for HSBC Bank

We're in St Columb, First timers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Principality , and our solicitor is on the Principality conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

I am assisting my mother sell her flat in St Columb. Does the conveyancing solicitor commission an EPC or should I organise this?

After the abolition of HIPs, EPC’s remained a mandatory element of moving house. An energy performance certificate must be commissioned prior to the property being marketed. It is not as aspect of the sale process that lawyers ordinarily arrange. If you are using a St Columb conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy assessments due to their relationships with long established local providers

When it comes to mortgage companies such as Skipton, do St Columb conveyancing practitioners have to pay a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are unaware of any bank fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

It is unclear whether my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called my St Columb building society branch on various occasions and was told it does not impact the mortgage offer and they would lend. My St Columb conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called and was told they would not lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?

Provided that the conveyancer is on the bank approved list, she or he must adhere to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.

I work for a busy estate agency in St Columb where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local St Columb conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, 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.

St Columb Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Please note if it is less than 80 years it will affect the value of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are content with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for two years in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension. Be sure to investigate if the the lease contains any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in St Columb leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in St Columb. If you like the flatin St Columb however your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. How is the lease structured?

Me and my partner are hoping to buy a four room first floor flatin St Columb with a residential mortgage from a lender. We would like to retain our solicitor in St Columb but our mortgage company inform us now that she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to instruct from the our lender panel firms or stay with our St Columb conveyancer and incur the extra costs for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?

Unfortunately,no. The mortgage company mortgage issued is subject to conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will on the mortgage company's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most banks had open panels, including most conveyancing solicitors in St Columb : a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.