Much to our surprise we have been notified by our mortgage adviser that my Highbury lawyer is not on the bank Conveyancing panel. How can I be certain whether this is indeed the case?
Your first step should be to call your Highbury conveyancer. You lawyer should inform you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may be able to suggest a Highbury conveyancing firm that is on the conveyancing panel for your lender.
Our lawyer has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are buying in Highbury. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our property lawyer has advised that he must ensure that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. You and the lender are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.
Why do I have to pay up front for conveyancing in Highbury?
If you are buying a property in Highbury your lawyer will request that you put them with funds to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. When the down payment is payable against the purchase price then this will be required immediately before exchange of contracts. Any further balance that is needed should be transferred shortly before completion.
The deeds to our home are lost. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Highbury 4 years ago have long since closed. What are my next steps?
Gone are the days when you need to have the physical original deeds to establish 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.
We expect to complete the sale of our £300,000 garden flat in Highbury next Tuesday. The landlords agents has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Highbury?
Highbury conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually requires the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They are entitled to charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.
After years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Highbury. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, 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 price.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Highbury premises is Lower Flat 16A Beatty Road in September 2012. The premium payable was £13,577. The terms of the lease has been agreed between the Applicants and the First Respondent and the Tribunal did not seek to disturb that agreement. This case related to 1 flat.