My partner and I are hoping to purchase a home in Bramford and are in fact using a Bramford conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. HSBC Bank have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Bramford conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bramford lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My grandfather passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Bramford. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to UBS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you plan to re-mortgage then UBS will insist on your using a conveyancer on the UBS 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 UBS 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 UBS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Do I need to pay for insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when buying a residence in Bramford?
Unless a previous purchase of the premises completed post 12 October 2013 you may assume that solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Bramford to continue to propose a a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I am buying my first flat in Bramford with a mortgage from Bank of Scotland. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The property agent suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it will jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. 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've recently bought a leasehold property in Bramford. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I own a split level flat in Bramford, conveyancing formalities finalised April 2001. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Bramford with a long lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2094
With only 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.
The mortgage broker has recommended their lawyer for our conveyancing in Bramford - won’t it be easier to just instruct them?
It is worth checking if the selling agent is recommending a lawyer or introducing to a property lawyer. There are plenty of Bramford estate agents who recommend two or three Bramford conveyancing firms and get nothing from it.