My wife and I are buying a newly built duplex in Bridport and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the lender to reveal incentives from the developer. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to sign contracts and I don't want to prolong deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Bridport costs more?
Bridport leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
I have a decision in principle. The lender mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Does this mean I have to appoint their panel conveyancer as I would prefer to use a Bridport based conveyancing firm?
You should check but the chances are that give you one of their panel conveyancers where you accept the "fee-free" incentive. Speak to the lender and see if they allow a monetary alternative. In the past a few lenders offered a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case that money can go towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor near Bridport.
It has been three months following my purchase conveyancing in Bridport concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I am looking for a flat up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Bridport I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bridport for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you can ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
We own a leasehold flat in Bridport. Conveyancing was finalised in 2010. I have read on numerous consumer forums that I mustn’t allow the lease length get too low. Why is that a problem?
Bridport leasehold properties are for a prescribed period - normally ninety nine years when they commenced. However a significant appartments in Bridport were built or converted in the 70’s80’s and so such leases now have under 80 years remaining. That may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies on the whole need leases to have a minimum of seventy five years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are getting close to eighty years. To increase the saleability of your property you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. Furthermore advantages to taking action before the lease hits 80 years as when the lease falls below eighty years the premium you have to pay to extend starts to escalate.