My husband and I are refinancing our apartment in Birchington with Skipton. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights 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.
It is 10 years ago since I bought my house in Birchington. Conveyancing solicitors have just been instructed on the sale but I can't find my deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. First there is a possibility that the deeds will be with the lender or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Birchington involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it is more problematic but is resolvable.
My wife and I purchased a 4 bedroom Victorian property in Birchington. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Birmingham Midshires. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. Is it worth asking Birmingham Midshires to clarify?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Birchington and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing lawyer who carried out the work.
How does conveyancing in Birchington differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Birchington come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because developers in Birchington tend to acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Birchington or who has acted in the same development.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years left on my lease in Birchington. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Birchington.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Birchington - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing
-
This question is useful as a) areas may result in problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if repairs are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to have complete disclosure Is anyone aware of any major works on the horizon that will likely add a premium to the maintenance fees? Is the freehold owned collectively by the leaseholders?
Our bank agreed in principle to give us a mortgage. We are using a reputable conveyancer in Birchington last week. Today, our financial adviser called to say that the bank said that we cannot use our solicitor as they aren't on their 'approved list'. As novices, we had no idea that the bank had a say Is this allowed?
You are permitted to use any conveyencer you wish to appoint for your conveyancing in Birchington nevertheless if your lender aren't happy with them you would have to pay additional cost so the mortgage company can instruct their own conveyancer too. On occasion it is possible your solicitor may apply to get added to the mortgage company list of approved firms. Do make the most of online tools including lenderpanel.com to find a conveyancing solcitor in Birchington on the bank panel. You can go into your local lender branch in Birchington. They will know some good conveyancing solicitors in Birchington on the mortgage company panel.