My partner and I are acquiring a new build apartment in Stansted and my conveyancer is telling me that she has to the mortgage company to reveal incentives from the builder. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange and I have no desire to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
As someone not used to conveyancing in Stansted what’s your top tip you can impart for the legal transfer of property in Stansted
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Stansted or throughout Essex is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is plenty of opportunity for friction between you and other parties involved in the transaction. E.g., the vendor, estate agent and on occasion a bank. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Stansted should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the transaction whose interest is to protect your legal interests and to protect you.
We are witnessing a distinct increase in the "blame" culture- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. You your first instinct should be to trust your solicitor ahead of the other parties in the home moving process.
I just bought a flat at auction in Stansted. Conveyancing is required. What happens now?
Given that you have now for in every practical sense signed on the dotted line you now have to instruct a conveyancing solicitor quickly as you will have a pending a fixed date to complete the purchase. An auction property should have a bespoke legal set of papers. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold property the legal papers should provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation pertinent to a leasehold property. You must give this to the solicitor working for you at the earliest opportunity. You also need to ensure that you have funds in place to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Nationwide. I assume I don't need a Stansted conveyancing practitioner on the Nationwide panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Nationwide 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 Nationwide mortgage from the register. Nationwide, 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:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Nationwide has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nationwide has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Stansted. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
Helen (my wife) and I may need to let out our Stansted ground floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Stansted conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
A small minority of properties in Stansted do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.
I own a studio flat in Stansted, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Stansted with an extended lease are worth £206,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2091
With only 66 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.
How much will conveyancing in Stansted cost?
The amount you are levied for conveyancing in Stansted will vary dramatically from lawyer to lawyer. Given these variations it is particularly important that you have a complete breakdown of fees before you instruct a conveyancer. You should also consider asking a couple fee estimate.