Me and my partner are due to exchange on the purchase of a house in West Dean but as a result of wreckage from the recent storms I have managed to agree compensation from the vendor in the sum of £3k in the form of a adjustment in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of amending the contract but Yorkshire BS are not allowing this. Should they have been involved?
The lawyer that is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel is obliged to inform Yorkshire BS of any amendments to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your property lawyer to report the reduction to Yorkshire BS then they would have to discontinue acting for you. In addition, Yorkshire BS and you would have to appoint a new property lawyer for your conveyancing in West Dean.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in West Dean costs more?
The conveyancing costs for a leasehold premises in West Dean is frequently more expensive as compared to a freehold transaction. This is because there is an amount of extra investigations required in liaising with the freeholder and managing agents to collate the information concerning whether the rent and maintenance fee have been cleared and whether there are any large sums expected to be spent in the foreseeable future on repairs or maintenance of the building.
The West Dean conveyancing firm that just started acting on my purchase in West Dean have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Skipton conveyancing panel and my preferred West Dean lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Skipton 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 may be able to assist.
I acquired my house on 14 June and the transaction details is not yet registered. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in West Dean expressed confidence that it would be formalised in a couple of weeks. Are properties in West Dean uniquely lengthy to register?
There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in West Dean registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can differ according to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any other persons or bodies. As of today approximately three quarters of such applications are completed within two weeks but occasionally there can be longer hold-ups. Historically registration is effected once the new owner has moved in to the property thus 'speed' is not usually top priority yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in West Dean ahead of appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a loan on a flying freehold premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in West Dean. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in West Dean especially if they regularly deal with such properties in West Dean.