It is 10 years ago since I acquired my home in Ashbourne. Conveyancing solicitors have now been appointed on the sale but I can't track down my title deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be kept by your mortgage company or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who handled your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the property will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Ashbourne relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it is more of a problem but is resolvable.
My flat in Ashbourne is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Will the property lawyer need to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nationwide 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 conditions fairly frequently in recent years.
My colleague advised me that where I am buying in Ashbourne I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Ashbourne conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Ashbourne around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Ashbourne Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Ashbourne.
I'm buying a new build house in Ashbourne with a mortgage from Nottingham Building Society. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about this extras as it may impact my mortgage with Nottingham Building Society. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Ashbourne I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, however it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Ashbourne in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
I have been recommended a conveyancing solicitor in Ashbourne. I need to find out if they are listed on the bank's approved list of lawyers. Can you or the bank confirm if they are on the panel?
One option is to call your conveyancer and ask them if they are on the bank's approved list. Alternatively please get in touch with us and we can make some checks for you. Should the firm not be on the lender panel we can certainly arrange a quality conveyancing solicitor in Ashbourne on the approved list for your lender.