My lawyer has uncovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are buying in Beverley. The other side have put forward defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our property lawyer says that he must ensure that the mortgage company is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
Even though you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their specifications for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. You and the mortgage company are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.
I am assisting my sister sell her flat in Beverley. Does the solicitor arrange the energy performance certificate or do I organise this?
After the demise of HIPs, energy performance certificates remained a required part of selling a house. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned before the property is put on the market. This is not something that conveyancers ordinarily organise. Where you are using a Beverley conveyancing lawyer they might be able to arrange energy assessments due to their relationships with long established local providers
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Beverley property lawyer on the Skipton panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Skipton mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Skipton mortgage from the register. Skipton, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Skipton has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Skipton has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I can not fathom if my lender requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Beverley building society branch on numerous occasions and was told it does not impact the mortgage offer and they would lend. My Beverley conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their published requirements. Who do I believe?
Provided that the conveyancer is on the lender panel, they must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook provisions for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank 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 remaining.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Beverley?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Beverley. 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 am purchasing my first flat in Beverley with a mortgage from The Mortgage Works. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not to tell my solicitor about the extras as it could affect my loan with The Mortgage Works. 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 £305k and identified one round the corner in Beverley I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Beverley for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you need a home loan that many years will likely be an issue. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Beverley where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Beverley conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I bought a garden flat in Beverley, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Beverley with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2094
With only 69 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.