My husband and I are refinancing our flat in Alnwick with RBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the RBS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 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 RBS. This is solely used to protect RBS 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 RBS 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.
It is 10 years ago since I bought my house in Alnwick. Conveyancing solicitors have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate my title deeds. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a chance that the deeds will be retained by your mortgage company or they could be in the possession of the lawyers who acted in your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Alnwick involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it is more problematic but is resolvable.
I am the only recipient of my late grandmother’s will and I have everything in my name alone, including the my former home in Alnwick. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in December. I plan to dispose of the property. I do know about the CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership could be treated the same way as if I'd bought the house in December. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you could be impacted by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the bank as this clause is primarily there to identify subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Alnwick off the council. I have a mortgage agreed with Lloyds. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Lloyds, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Lloyds conveyancing panel.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Alnwick. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Soon after, the conveyancer contacted me to say that they were not on the Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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.
I am purchasing a new build house in Alnwick benefiting from help to buy. The builders refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about this side-deal as it would jeopardize 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 decided to have a survey carried out on a house in Alnwick before retaining solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend not give a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can investigate further with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Alnwick. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Alnwick to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
My husband and I are a couple of weeks into a freehold purchase having been directed to solicitors by the selling agent to carry out the conveyancing in Alnwick. I am am very dissatisfied with the quality of service. Can you you assist me in finding new lawyers?
A conveyancer would need to be very bad in order to consider changing them. Has your mortgage been sent? If so you must inform them of the new contact details and ensure the offer are re-issued. Your new solicitor ideally should be on the mortgage company panel to avoid escalating fees and complications. So that should be your first question of the new solicitors. Our search tool will assist you in finding a lender approved conveyancer for your home move in Alnwick