I am getting a mortgage offer from Santander. I intend to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Amesbury. Does the Santander Solicitor panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?
The Santander conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.
My husband and I are refinancing our maisonette in Amesbury with Clydesdale. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as he did not need 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?
First, rest assured that your Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing 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 Clydesdale. This is solely used to protect Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale 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.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Amesbury last September yet the purchaser is Skype messaging daily to say his solicitor needs to hear from mysolicitor. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
After completion of your sale your solicitor should forward the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. If applicable, your solicitor must also confirm that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been redeemed to the buyers conveyancers. There are no post completion requirements unique to conveyancing in Amesbury.
We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Nottingham as we intend to carry out a loft conversion to our house in Amesbury. Do we need to select a high street Amesbury solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Nottingham would not normally require a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Nottingham list.
I can not work out if my lender obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called into my local Amesbury building society branch on various occasions and was reassured it wasn't an issue and they will lend. My Amesbury conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called to say that they refuse to lend in accordance with their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I have no idea who is right.
Your lawyer has to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Amesbury. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. A few days later, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Skipton 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 Skipton 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 used Arc property Solicitors several years ago for my conveyancing in Amesbury. I now require my papers but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Amesbury of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Last November I purchased a leasehold house in Amesbury. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I acquired a leasehold flat in Amesbury, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2008. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar properties in Amesbury with over 90 years remaining are worth £260,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2101
With 75 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range 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 cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.