I am obtaining a offer of a home loan from Santander. I hope to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Bicester. Does the Santander Conveyancing panel exclude Licensed Conveyancers?
The Santander approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.
My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Bicester. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to HSBC, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you intend to re-mortgage then HSBC will require that you use a conveyancer on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the HSBC mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
My father advised me that in buying a property in Bicester there could be various restrictions prohibiting external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are anumerous of properties in Bicester which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Bicester should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I am purchasing a property in Bicester. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Bank of Ireland have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Bank of Ireland your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions outlined in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Bank of Ireland. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook stipulates minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Bank of Ireland where a lease fails to satisfy these provisions. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Bicester.
I have paid off my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Bicester lawyer on the Skipton panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
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 have justdiscovered that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Bicester for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 18 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest method to see if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Bicester conveyancing specialists.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Bicester I like with a park and transport links nearby, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bicester for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a home loan that many years will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.
Should one as executor remove a deceased person's details from the title deeds for a property in Bicester?
Where a Bicester property is co-owned and one of the owners passes away, the name will not automatically be removed from the title deeds. You are not required to amend the title as when it comes to a sale your conveyancer would just need to supply proof as to the reason the other proprietor is missing from the contract, such as a grant of probate.
With the aim of making the sale conveyancing more straight forward for the sale of the property you may arrange to have the deceased party erased from the title register by submitting an application to HM Land Registry with evidence of the death. There is no land registry fee payable.