My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in Aldeburgh and have instructed a Aldeburgh conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Aldeburgh conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Quality 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Aldeburgh 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.
five months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Aldeburgh completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I am buying a new build house in Aldeburgh with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent suggested that I not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it would adversely affect my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in Aldeburgh I like with a park and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Aldeburgh suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
I would like to rent out my leasehold flat in Aldeburgh. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?
Some leases for properties in Aldeburgh do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold 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 consent.
I bought a 2 bed flat in Aldeburgh, conveyancing was carried out June 2009. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Aldeburgh with an extended lease are worth £255,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2098
With just 73 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £8,600 and £9,800 plus costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.
Our lawyer in Aldeburgh has identified a a problem with the lease for the property we are buying in Aldeburgh. The other side have put forward defective title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will cover the costs. Our solicitor has advised that as he is on the lender conveyancing panel he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. A precondition to being on the lender approved panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.