Do lawyers request money up-front when it comes to conveyancing in Tokyngton?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Tokyngton your lawyer will request that you place them with funds to cover the search fees. Normally this is needed to cover the fees of the Local Authority Search. When the deposit is as part of the total price then this will be required shortly ahead of contracts are exchanged. The closing balance that is needed should be transferred a couple of days prior to the completion date.

My wife and I own a terraced Edwardian property in Tokyngton. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Tokyngton and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.

I was advised by two or three local estate agents in Tokyngton to get a quote from a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to offer your services over another?

We don’t make any commission for directing people in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Tokyngton where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Tokyngton conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start 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 start 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tokyngton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Tokyngton conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Tokyngton residence is Ground Floor Flat 79 London Road in September 2012. the Tribunal held that the premium payable for the lease extension should be £7,636 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 74 years.

Myself and my wife have just had an offer accepted on a apartment and had meeting on Friday with Leeds Building Society for the mortgage. They warned me that when it comes to choosing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of property lawyers then we will have to pay out an additional charge of about two hundred pounds. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to appoint a property lawyer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select for ourselves and we are liable for their invoice. I have requested Leeds Building Society to furnish me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is their an easier way of going about this?

You should ask Leeds Building Society what their panel criteria is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for Leeds Building Society in the past. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with Leeds Building Society. Alternatively please make use of our search facility and we should be able to locate a conveyancing practitioner in Tokyngton on the approved list for Leeds Building Society.