The West Byfleet conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my purchase in West Byfleet have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a solicitor on the conveyancing panel and my family West Byfleet lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.
Will my lawyer be raising enquiries concerning flooding during the conveyancing in West Byfleet.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers conducting conveyancing in West Byfleet. Some people will purchase a property in West Byfleet, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that can be carried out by the purchaser or by their lawyers which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in West Byfleet. The conventional set of information given to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a usual question of the vendor to discover if the premises has ever been flooded. If the property has been flooded in past and is not notified by the vendor, then a purchaser could issue a compensation claim stemming from an inaccurate response. The buyer’s conveyancers should also conduct an enviro search. This should indicate if there is any known flood risk. If so, further investigations should be conducted.
I have a terraced Victorian house in West Byfleet. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and . I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to read 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in West Byfleet 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 buyers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one close by in West Byfleet I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in West Byfleet in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
We are a fortnight into a residential purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in West Byfleet. I am am very disappointed with the quality of service. Could you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?
A solicitor would have to be really bad to suggest replacing them. Has the loan offer been issued? In the event that it has you will need to make them aware of the new contact details and have the mortgage documents are re-sent. Your new solicitor ideally should be on the lenders panel to avoid escalating fees and frustration. That should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The find a solicitor tool will help you find a bank approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in West Byfleet