I require conveyancing for a flat in a fairly new development (6 years old) in Walkington. Almost all the properties have already been occupied. Do I need carry out the conveyancing searches as part of conveyancing in Walkington?

Where you are obtaining a mortgage, your bank will require some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Walkington conveyancing searches are for you to decide upon. No doubt your conveyancer, will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should not go ahead without searches, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you choose to instruct your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or you will need to switch to another solicitor for your conveyancing in Walkington.

The deeds to our house are lost. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in Walkington 10 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

These day there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your conveyancer will know exactly where to locate all the suitable documentation so you can buy or sell your property without any difficulty. If copies are not available, your solicitor may be able to put in place insurance or indemnities protecting you against possible claims on your property.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Walkington. 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 conveyancing.

Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Walkington

Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one near me in Walkington I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Walkington in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.

My nephew is about to join the property ladder, he had his mortgage in principle. When the offer was accepted on house we called the mortgage institution to progress the mortgage application. We were disappointed to hear that banks do not accept all conveyancer, they need to be on their approved list, is this legal?

Lenders ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Walkington conveyancer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.