Me and my partner are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in Castle Cary with a mortgage. We wish to retain our Castle Cary solicitor, however the lender advise he's not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to use one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or retain our Castle Cary conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. We regard this is inequitable; are we not able to require that the lender use our Castle Cary conveyancer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Castle Cary conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My partner and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette in Castle Cary with UBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. 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, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the UBS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your UBS 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 UBS. This is solely used to protect UBS 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 UBS 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.
Do lenders provide you with an approved list of Castle Cary conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel?
Castle Cary conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Lloyds directly.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our home are lost. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing in Castle Cary 10 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?
Assuming you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be recorded by HMLR with a Title Number. It is possible to execute a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and get current copies of the property title for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one close by in Castle Cary I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it's only got 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Castle Cary suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Castle Cary with the intention of speeding up the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Castle Cary can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ lawyers. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. A minority of Castle Cary leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers. If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
Castle Cary Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing
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Is the freehold owned collectively by the leaseholders? What is the annual service fee and ground rent? Are there any major works in the planning that will add a premium to the maintenance costs?