My wife and I are refinancing our penthouse in Abingdon with Lloyds. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Lloyds conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Lloyds. This is solely used to protect Lloyds if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Lloyds had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
As someone with no idea as to the Abingdon conveyancing process what is your top tip you can give me concerning the legal transfer of property in Abingdon
Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Abingdon or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for confrontation between you and others involved in the ownership transfer. For example, the vendor, property agent and even potentially your bank. Selecting a lawyer for your conveyancing in Abingdon is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the process whose interest is to act in your best interests and to protect you.
There is a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you must always trust your conveyancer above the other parties in the conveyancing process.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Abingdon. Do I collect the keys to the premises on the completion date from my solicitor? If so, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Abingdon?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and once they have received this, you should be able to pick up the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.
We previously appointed conveyancing lawyers based in Abingdon on the Virgin Money solicitor panel. They have just billed me a supplemental amount for handling the Virgin Money mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Virgin Money?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner can charge a fee for this. This charge is not set by Virgin Money but by your Abingdon conveyancing practitioner. Numerous firms on the Virgin Money panel will levy an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I currently have a mortgage with Barclays for my property in Abingdon. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Barclays?
Barclays must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Barclays will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Barclays directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel solicitor.
How does conveyancing in Abingdon differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Abingdon contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because builders in Abingdon tend to buy the real estate, 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 Abingdon or who has acted in the same development.
Given that I am about to part with hundreds of thousands of pounds on a property in Abingdon I wish to talk to a solicitor regarding thehouse move before instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
This is something that we encourage - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you speaking to the solicitor due to be conducting your conveyancing in Abingdon.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique person, not a matter reference. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in Abingdon should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in Abingdon. I've discover a web site which looks to be the ideal solution If there is a chance to get all this stuff completed via phone that would be ideal. Do I need to be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?