Will lawyers ask for money up-front when it comes to conveyancing in Leicestershire?

If you are buying a property in Leicestershire your lawyer will ask you place them with funds to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any deposit is payable against the total price then this will be needed shortly prior to exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed should be transferred shortly before completion.

If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in Leicestershire what would it be?

It would be unwise to be seduced by the lowest Leicestershire conveyancing fees. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.

This question may be naive but I am unexperienced as a 1st time buyer of a ground floor flat in Leicestershire. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If so, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Leicestershire?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the seller's solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be called to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Leicestershire. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Principality conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Principality panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

My partner and I are selling our house in Leicestershire and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built land that was not decontaminated. A local lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers instructed a web based conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Leicestershire. We have lived in Leicestershire for many years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)

Should I appoint a Leicestershire conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am purchasing? An old friend can carry out the legal formalities but her office is 300kilometers away.

The primary upside of using a high street Leicestershire conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to sign paperwork, hand in your identification documents and pester them if necessary. Having local Leicestershire know how is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have instructed your friend and they were content that must surpass using an unknown Leicestershire conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Leicestershire based.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Leicestershire where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Leicestershire conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

Leicestershire Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? Its a good idea to find out as much as you can concerning the company managing the building as they will either make life much simpler or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Ask other tenants whether they are happy with their management. Finally, be sure you know the dates that the service fees are due to the appropriate party and specifically what you get for your money. How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property?