My wife and I are acquiring a new build apartment in Beacontree Heath and my solicitor is telling me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the developer. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange and I have no desire to prolong the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My wife and I are buying a flat in Beacontree Heath. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? On completion day we will need to put funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
A colleague advised me that in purchasing a property in Beacontree Heath there could be a number of restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are anumerous of properties in Beacontree Heath which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to perform external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Beacontree Heath should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in Beacontree Heath. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform HSBC?
HSBC must be informed of your intention in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact HSBC directly. You need not do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor.
Will our solicitor be asking questions about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Beacontree Heath.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors conducting conveyancing in Beacontree Heath. Some people will purchase a house in Beacontree Heath, completely expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Solicitors are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various searches that may be initiated by the purchaser or by their solicitors which will give them a better appreciation of the risks in Beacontree Heath. The standard completed inquiry forms given to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual inquiry of the seller to find out if the premises has historically flooded. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the vendor, then a buyer may issue a claim for damages as a result of such an inaccurate reply. A purchaser’s lawyers should also commission an environmental report. This should disclose if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries will need to be made.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in Beacontree Heath. I now require my papers but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should 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 Beacontree Heath of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
About to purchase a new build apartment in Beacontree Heath. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Here are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Beacontree Heath
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Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Please supply a car parking plan.
I happen to be an executor of my recently deceased aunt’s Will, with a bungalow in Beacontree Heath which will be marketed. The house is unregistered at HMLR and I'm told that many buyers solicitors will insist that it is completed before they'll proceed. What's the mechanism for this?
In the circumstances that you have set out it seems sensible to seek to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. The Land Registry’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.