My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a property in Brighouse and Rastrick and are in fact using a Brighouse and Rastrick conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Brighouse and Rastrick lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Brighouse and Rastrick lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My wife and I are acquiring a brand new apartment in Brighouse and Rastrick and my solicitor is informing me that she is duty bound to the lender to reveal incentives from the developer. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I have no desire to prolong deal. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I purchased a freehold property in Brighouse and Rastrick but nevertheless invoiced for rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Brighouse and Rastrick and has limited impact for conveyancing in Brighouse and Rastrick but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of fresh rentcharges post 1977.
Old rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence in 2037 is to be extinguished.
I currently have a mortgage with Yorkshire BS for my property in Brighouse and Rastrick. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Yorkshire BS?
Yorkshire BS must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Yorkshire BS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Yorkshire BS directly. You need not do this via a Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor.
It is unclear whether my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Brighouse and Rastrick building society branch on numerous occasions and was reassured it wasn't an issue and they will lend. My Brighouse and Rastrick conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?
Your property lawyer has to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook section two requirements for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Brighouse and Rastrick. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Not long after, the solicitor contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Skipton panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have been told that property searches are the main cause of delay in Brighouse and Rastrick house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Brighouse and Rastrick.
The conveyancers carrying out our conveyancing in Brighouse and Rastrick has forwarded documents to review that state the property is unregistered with epitome documents. Surely all houses in Brighouse and Rastrick are registered?
The majority of property in Brighouse and Rastrick is registered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Plenty of Brighouse and Rastrick conveyancing practitioners will be capable of dealing with this type of conveyancing but if any uncertainty prevails the prevailing proposition nowadays seems to be for the seller’s conveyancer to deal with the registration formalities first and then deal with the transfer to the buyer - this will have a domino effect to result in a significant delay.