My wife and I are about to exchange on the purchase of a house in Swanage but as a consequence of damage from the recent storms I have managed to agree compensation from the vendor of £3k by way of a deduction in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of amending the contract however Leeds Building Society will not permit this. Should they have been notified?
Any solicitor being on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel is required to advise Leeds Building Society of any amendments to the purchase price. If you prohibit your property lawyer to disclose the reduction to Leeds Building Society then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Leeds Building Society and you would have to appoint a new conveyancer for your conveyancing in Swanage.
My partner and I are at the point of looking at houses in Swanage and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a property lawyer in place at this point? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Santander.
It would be sensible to instigate 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 contact information on to the selling agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Santander, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Santander conveyancing panel.
Intending to buy a apartment in Swanage. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Swanage lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.
Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Swanage solicitor - who is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Leeds Building Society will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Leeds Building Society will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Swanage surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
A colleague suggested that if I am buying in Swanage I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Swanage conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Swanage around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Swanage Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Swanage.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Swanage I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Swanage in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease may be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
I'm going to be buying a flat very soon in Swanage. I will need a Swanage conveyancing solicitor. My family solicitor is located in Scotland and unable to help.Please can you recommend a trustworthy Swanage conveyancer that would assist us as well as represent Skipton?
LenderPanel.com is restricted to being a directory service for solicitors who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Skipton in certain locations such as Swanage . Our intention is not to recommend any particular conveyancing practitioner.