My wife and I are planning to purchase a property in Aston and have instructed a Aston conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Coventry Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Aston solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Aston lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am the registered owner of a freehold property in Aston but nevertheless charged rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Aston and has limited impact for conveyancing in Aston but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for many centuries, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of fresh rentcharges from 1977 onwards.
Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 is to be extinguished.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is expelled from the RBS Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Aston?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
I'm purchasing a new build house in Aston benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my solicitor about this side-deal as it may adversely affect my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Aston is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Aston are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Aston you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Aston may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Aston from the point of view of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Aston can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers. Some Aston leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors. If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Aston leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer first.
I own a ground floor flat in Aston, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Aston with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2094
With 69 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account 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.