I am getting a mortgage with Nat West. I would like to employ the services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Saxmundham. Does the Nat West Solicitor panel allow for Licensed Conveyancers?

The Nat West conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I require conveyancing for an apartment in a relatively new development (seven years old) in Saxmundham. 95% of the flats have already been disposed of. Is it strictly necessary to order local searches as part of conveyancing in Saxmundham?

A big part of the Saxmundham legal transfer of property is the conveyancing searches. There are a large number of companies conducting Saxmundham conveyancing searches, as well straight from the local authority. These are usually referred to as personal search companies due to them carrying out, personal searches. Nevertheless, all Local Authority Search conveyancing products have one thing in common - they must secure their information from the local authoritative source.

Please help - my lawyer advises that defective lease insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Saxmundham?

The right level of defective lease indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Nationwide Building Society and Virgin Money. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such insurances.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Saxmundham conveyancer on the HSBC panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your HSBC mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so

After shopping around on the internet I have found a Saxmundham conveyancer having checked that they are on the RBS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

RBS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually RBS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Saxmundham surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

We're novice buyers - had an offer accepted, yet the estate agent has warned us that the seller will only go ahead if we instruct their chosen solicitors as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Saxmundham

We suspect that the owner is unaware of this ultimatum. If they desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Speak to the owners direct and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are genuine buyers (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you will continue to use your own,trusted Saxmundham conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a referral fee or hit his conveyancing targets demanded by corporate headquarters.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Saxmundham. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Saxmundham ?

Most houses in Saxmundham are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area who can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Saxmundham so you should seriously consider looking for a Saxmundham conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer will appraise you on the various issues.

Saxmundham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

The answer will be helpful as a) areas may cause problems in the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to know about it For most Saxmundham leaseholds the outlay for major works are not wrapped into the service charges, although some managing agents in Saxmundham ask tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. Plenty Saxmundham leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the freeholder. If you buy the property you will have to meet this charge, usually in instalments accross the year. This could be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say around £50-£100 but you should to check as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds.