Do lawyers request an advanced payment for my conveyancing in North West London?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in North West London your lawyer will request that you put them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. When the deposit is as part of the sale price then this should be asked for shortly in advance of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed should be sent to your lawyer shortly before completion.

I have a semi-detached Edwardian property in North West London. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in North West London and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and found one near me in North West London I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in North West London for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?

Should you need a home loan that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

I was recommended by a couple of local selling agents in North West London to find a solicitor on your site. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to market your services over and above a competitor’s?

We refuse to offer any financial incentive for sending work to this site. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

I have finally had an offer on an maisonette in North West London agreed to, the vendor does nevertheless have a connected purchase. The current proprietors have offered on a flat, but it’s not yet tied up, and has viewings of other apartments booked. I have instructed a nearby conveyancing solicitor in North West London. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with going with ?

It is normal to have anxieties where there is an associated chain given your reluctance to incur expenses too early (home loan application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then survey, North West London conveyancing search charges, etc). The first course of action is to check that your is on the conveyancing panel. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. During a rising market many buyers would apply for the mortgage with and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their to press on with searches.