I am acquiring a leasehold flat in Bracebridge Heath. My property lawyer is not on the lender conveyancing panel. Is it possible for me to retain my Bracebridge Heath conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company approved list?
Your options include
- Proceed with your preferred Bracebridge Heath solicitor but your mortgage company will undoubtedly appoint a property lawyer on their approved list. The net result is additional fees together with likely frustration.
- Appoint a new lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, making sure they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
- Appeal to your conveyancer to seek to join the mortgage company panel
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our apartment in Bracebridge Heath with HSBC. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. 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 a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the HSBC conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC 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 HSBC 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.
My relative suggested that where I am purchasing in Bracebridge Heath I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Bracebridge Heath conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Bracebridge Heath around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Bracebridge Heath Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Bracebridge Heath.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Bracebridge Heath. I now require my file however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should contact 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 Bracebridge Heath of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Bracebridge Heath is where the house is located. Can you offer any advice?
Flying freeholds in Bracebridge Heath are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Bracebridge Heath you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Bracebridge Heath may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
In what way does the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my commercial premises in Bracebridge Heath and how can you help?
The 1954 Act affords security of tenure to business tenants, giving them the a statutory right to apply to court for a renewal lease and remain in occupation when the lease reaches an end. There are certain specified grounds that a landlord can refuse a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. Bracebridge Heath is one of our many areas of the UK in which the firms we work with are based