I am purchasing a new build flat in North End. Conveyancing solicitors are said to be ‘a necessary evil’ but can I do it myself?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in North End you will have to appoint a solicitor on your mortgage company's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in North End.

I am assisting my step-mother sell her flat in North End. Will the conveyancing solicitor arrange an energy assessment or should I organise this?

Following the demise of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates remained a compulsory part of moving house. An EPC should be to hand in advance of the property being put on the market. This is not something that lawyers normally arrange. If you are using a North End conveyancing practitioner they may help arrange energy performance certificates due to their contacts with long established North End energy assessors

When it comes to lenders such as Santander, do North End conveyancers have to pay a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are not aware of any mortgage company fees to be on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in North End. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £225. Not long after, the property lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in North End?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in North End. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

How does conveyancing in North End differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in North End contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because house builders in North End usually acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in North End or who has acted in the same development.

There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in North End. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing North End.

Having spent years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in North End. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a North End premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The unexpired lease term was 76 years.