Is it necessary during the course of the conveyancing process to pop into the offices of the solicitor to sign the mortgage deed? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in Maida Hill so that I can attend their offices if necessary.

Whereas this was necessary 12 years ago, most mortgage companies no longer need their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the mortgagors signature. It will still be necessary for you to provide ID documents and there are still manifest benefits to instructing a locally based solicitor, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in Maida Hill.

It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in Maida Hill took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Maida Hill I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Maida Hill for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?

If you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Maida Hill both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Maida Hill is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 Maida Hill conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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 any new 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.

I am the registered owner of a first flat in Maida Hill. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Maida Hill residence is Flat 1 57 Oxford Gardens in January 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium to be paidfor a new lease is £61,650.00. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 60 years.

To what extent are Maida Hill conveyancing solicitors under an obligation to the Law Society to publish transparent conveyancing figures?

Contained within the Solicitors Code of Conduct are specific rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their charges to clients.The Law Society have a practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not to be interpreted as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, nevertheless, constitute the Law Society’s view of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Maida Hill or or elsewhere in the country.