My partner and I are hoping to buy a flat in Great Stanmore and have appointed a Great Stanmore conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Great Stanmore lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Great Stanmore lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Great Stanmore is more expensive?

In summary, leasehold conveyancing in Great Stanmore and elsewhere usually necessitates extra work compared to freehold conveyancing. This includes reviewing the lease, communicating with the landlord about the service of required notices, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining the landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts. The obligations on both the landlord and the tenant in the lease need to be studied by the buyer’s conveyancing team and read from beginning to end – regardless of the fact the lease has passed through many different property solicitors hands since it was first entered into.

My relative suggested that if I am purchasing in Great Stanmore I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is usually included in the estimate for your Great Stanmore conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Great Stanmore around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Great Stanmore Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Great Stanmore.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Great Stanmore?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Great Stanmore. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I am buying a new build flat in Great Stanmore. 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 few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Great Stanmore

Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? 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. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision.