My husband and I intend to remortgage our flat in Clapham with TSB. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the TSB 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 rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 TSB. This is solely used to protect TSB 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 TSB 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.
I have been told that property searches are the primary cause of hinderance in Clapham conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the top 10 causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are not likely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Clapham.
I have todaybeen informed that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Clapham for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I check that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way 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 Clapham conveyancing specialists.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Clapham is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can give?
Flying freeholds in Clapham are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Clapham you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Clapham may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I was recommended by a number of selling agents in Clapham to locate a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to market your site ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t make any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I’m about to sell my basement flat in Clapham. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, however I have recently had a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?
It best that you clear the maintenance contribution as usual as all rents and service payments will be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I inherited a first flat in Clapham. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Clapham flat is 23 Chelsham Road in May 2013. the Tribunal found that the sum of £13,870.00 was payable for the freehold following a vestig order having been granted by Swansea County Court dated 1st March 2013 This case affected 3 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 99 years.