It is is a decade since I bought my property in Oxted. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to find the title documents. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be with the lender or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Oxted relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
The Oxted conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my purchase in Oxted have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel and my previous Oxted lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.
Should my lawyer be raising questions about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Oxted.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers conducting conveyancing in Oxted. Plenty of people will purchase a house in Oxted, completely expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous checks that may be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Oxted. The conventional set of property information forms given to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual question of the vendor to discover if the property has suffered from flooding. In the event that flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer may commence a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate reply. A buyer’s conveyancers will also conduct an enviro search. This should indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be carried out.
My wife and I own a terraced Victorian property in Oxted. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Alliance & Leicester . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Oxted and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
My cousin has recommend that I appoint his lawyers for conveyancing in Oxted. Should I find my own conveyancer?
There are no two ways about it the ideal way to choose a conveyancing solicitor is to get feedback from friends or family who have actually used the conveyancer that you are are thinking of instructing.