I am selling my ground floor flat in Camden Town and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are appointing a new solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major lender only engage with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Camden Town ?

Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the last few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for many years.

Lenders justify this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Camden Town even where I’m not purchasing or disposing of a house, for example where I wish to buy an office in Camden Town with a mortgage from National Westminster Bank?

The service is primarily utilised to select residential conveyancing solicitors in Camden Town but we have recorded at the end of this page a selection of Camden Town commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the firm directly to establish if they are also authorised to represent National Westminster Bank

The deeds to our property are lost. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing in Camden Town 5 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

Gone are the days when you need to hold title official documentation to evidence that you are the owner of your registered land or premises, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

What makes your site different to alternative web based conveyancing solicitors when it comes to conveyancing in Camden Town?

At this site obtain an accurate quote via a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that appreciates the issues for your conveyancing in Camden Town. Unlike many estate agents and brokerage sites we do not operate kick-back deals with solicitors. Many agents and online brokers 'recommend' solicitors that pays the most kickback, rather than the best value conveyancing in Camden Town

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Camden Town which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Camden Town is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most buyers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Camden Town conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Camden Town. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Camden Town flat is Flat 120, Clare Court Judd Street in August 2013. the Tribunal held that the premium to be paid for the extension of the lease should be £64,650 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 62.79 years.