My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Bellingham with Skipton. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose 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, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Skipton 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 Skipton. This is solely used to protect Skipton 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 Skipton 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.
I purchased a freehold house in Bellingham but nevertheless charged rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Bellingham and has limited impact for conveyancing in Bellingham 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 hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the generation of new rentcharges post 1977.
Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence post 2037 will be extinguished.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Bellingham?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Bellingham. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Bellingham I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bellingham in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan that many years may be an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
We expect to complete our sale of a £200,000 apartment in Bellingham on Tuesday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Bellingham?
Bellingham conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled to charge a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.
After months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Bellingham. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Bellingham conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Bellingham premises is 75 Woolstone Road in February 2012. the decision of the Tribunal was that the appropriate amount to be paid to purchase the freehold was the sum of £17,711 . This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 68.28 and 158.
My wife and I have recently had an offer accepted on a flat and had an appointment on Friday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They warned us that when it comes to choosing a property lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of conveyancing practitioners then we will have to pay out a further fee of £250+. This is because they would then have to instruct a solicitor to act for them as well as the one we appoint for ourselves and we are liable for their invoice. I have asked the Post Office to supply me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved lawyers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a solicitor.Then ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for the Post Office in the past. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Alternatively please make use of our search facility and we may be able to locate a solicitor in Bellingham on the panel for the Post Office.