My fiance and I swapping mortgage lender for our apartment in Chobham with Santander. We have a son 18 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 a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Santander 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 Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander 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 Santander 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.
Can you help - my lawyer advises that lack of building regulations insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Chobham conveyancing?
The right level of lack of building regulations indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Halifax and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
When it comes to lenders such as HSBC, do Chobham property lawyers have to pay a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are not aware of any bank fees to register on their panel, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
I currently have a mortgage with Clydesdale for my property in Chobham. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Clydesdale must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’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 Clydesdale directly. You need not do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel lawyer.
I have todaybeen informed that Wolstenholmes have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Chobham for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I establish that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Chobham conveyancing specialists.
I opted to have a survey completed on a property in Chobham in advance of appointing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a mortgage on a flying freehold property.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you contact us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Chobham. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Chobham to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
There are only Seventy years unexpired on my flat in Chobham. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Chobham.
I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Chobham, conveyancing formalities finalised 7 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Chobham with over 90 years remaining are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2088
With 63 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £16,200 and £18,600 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.
Why do I have to provide my conveyancer with a list of items of identification before they can proceed with my conveyancing in Chobham?
Chobham conveyancers are obliged by the Law Society, SRA, HMLR and current AML legislation to certify that the have checked the identity of their clients. It will also be a condition of your bank where you are taking a mortgage. Furthermore they have to complete various forms, particularly those relating to stamp duty land tax and need to have information such as your full names, NI number and DOB.