My partner and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Soho and are in fact using a Soho conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Soho conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Soho lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Having sold my house in Soho last August but the buyer keeps e-mailing me to say his lawyer is waiting to hear from myconveyancer. What should have happened following completion?
Post completion of your sale your lawyer is obliged to send the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. If applicable, your lawyer must also confirm that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been repaid to the buyers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Soho.
I am selling my home in Soho. Will my conveyancer need to be required to be on the Skipton conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Skipton conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently in recent years.
My fiance and I may need to rent out our Soho basement flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Soho conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Soho conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.
I own a ground-floor 1950’s flat in Soho. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the amount due.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Soho property is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 73.26 years.
Been on the hunt for a solicitor for leasehold sale conveyancing in Soho. We are selling, uncomplicated no mortgage to pay off, no hurry, no onward chain. Received an estimate from a lawyer for £1000 including VAT which is a little steep considering its so straightforward. Can I pay less for conveyancing in Soho?
Given that it’s a sale only, £500 + VAT would be about the cheapest for a Soho solicitor firm.