What is the most effective way to find the right solicitor who can provide a first class service for our conveyancing in Mersea Island?

Option 1 is to ask connections who they experienced using in the past and if they were happy with the service.

Second, search the web for conveyancing in Mersea Island. Pick up the phone to a couple or more firms listed and request that they email you their conveyancing charges and discuss your needs with the solicitor who will handle your conveyancing ahead ofmaking your choice.

Option 3 is to make use of our search tool to help you find the right solicitors for you based on your unique factors including location,deadlines, complications and who your intended mortgage company is. Avoid the trap of appointing £99 conveyancing in Mersea Island

My lawyer has discovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing in Mersea Island. The seller’s lawyers have offered title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner says that he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?

Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their specifications 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. The appropriate lender specifications must be adhered to.

I am assisting my sister sell her flat in Mersea Island. Does the solicitor order the energy assessment or it is for me to see to?

After the abolition of HIPs, EPC’s was left as a required component of selling a property. An EPC should be to hand in advance of the property being put on the market. This is not a task that conveyancers normally organise. If you are using a Mersea Island conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange EPC’s given their contacts with reputable local energy assessors

We previously selected conveyancing lawyers located in Mersea Island on the Nottingham solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a further amount for dealing with the Nottingham mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Nottingham?

Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner may levy a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by Nottingham but by your Mersea Island lawyer. Some firms on the Nottingham panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.

I can not fathom if my bank requires a lease extension. I have called my Mersea Island bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told it does not affect the mortgage offer and they will lend. My Mersea Island conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- called to say that they will not lend based on their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?

Provided that the lawyer is on the bank panel, she or he must comply with the CML Handbook conditions for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Mersea Island. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Mersea Island - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Mersea Island Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Who is in charge of the building? The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the tenants benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within service charges, although there some managing agents in Mersea Island obliged leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance.

My lawyers in Mersea Island have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. At the time of my purchase I took out a mortgage with the bank. Is it case that being on the bank conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a prescribed period?

Different lenders have different requirements but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the bank Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting the mortgage company directly.