I am getting a mortgage with Lloyds. I would like to enlist the help of a Licensed Conveyancer in Thurrock. Does the Lloyds Solicitor panel allow for Licensed Conveyancers?

The Lloyds 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 CLC.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Thurrock 10 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?

You no longer need to hold title deeds to establish that you are the registered proprietor of land or property, as the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Thurrock. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Thurrock

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Thurrock which have about fifty years left on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Thurrock is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Thurrock conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Thurrock Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

The majority of Thurrock leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for the upkeep of the block levied by the freeholder. Should you purchase the property you will have to pay this amount, normally periodically throughout the year. This may be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a exorbitant amount, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because on occasion it can be surprisingly expensive. Best to be warned if window replacement or some other major work is anticipated to be shared by the leasehold owners and will dramatically increase the the service charges or result in a specific payment. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Thurrock obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for major works.

My partner and I have an offer in principle from HSBC Bank who have advised we could borrow up to £400k. At what point do I need to appoint a practitioner for conveyancing? Thurrock is where we plan to move to.

It would be wise to appoint a conveyancer now so that the solicitor can open the ledger so they can commence the AML checks etc. As and when you wish them to start work they will seek a payment on account usually about £175. That should generally be once you have the loan offer from the bank and valuation results, however if you want to expedite the process you can start the ball rolling sooner even though you may be risking some money.