My wife and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Cambridgeshire with Bank of Ireland. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 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 forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Bank of Ireland 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?
First, rest assured that your Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland. This is solely used to protect Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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.
Is it necessary to take out insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when purchasing a house in Cambridgeshire?
Unless a previous purchase of the property took place post 12 October 2013 you can assume that solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Cambridgeshire to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
My wife and I have a renovated Georgian property in Cambridgeshire. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and The Mortgage Works. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should review 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 Cambridgeshire and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the position with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.
How does conveyancing in Cambridgeshire differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Cambridgeshire contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because builders in Cambridgeshire typically buy the real estate, 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 Cambridgeshire or who has acted in the same development.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Cambridgeshire. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have recently had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the service charge as usual as all rents and service invoices will be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
Cambridgeshire Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees benefit from control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. How much is the ground rent and service charge?
Should local authority consent be necessary to split a single dwelling into multiple flats in Cambridgeshire? This has been done to a house adjacent to a relative in Cambridgeshire and was unaware of the conversion until it was finished.
Planning Consent yes. Building Regulations yes.