My wife and I are purchasing a new build apartment in Crayford and my solicitor is advising me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to sign contracts and my preference is not to prolong deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. 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 happen to be the only recipient of my late mum's estate and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Crayford. The Crayford property was put into my name in July. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as if I'd bought the house in July. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?
The CML handbook mandates solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be impacted by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the lender as this provision is chiefly there to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.
is it true that all Crayford solicitors on the RBS conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the RBS approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Some banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the CLC.
The mortgage over my property is with Virgin Money for my property in Crayford. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. Should I wish 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 Virgin Money?
You must advise Virgin Money in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Virgin Money’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 Virgin Money directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Virgin Money conveyancing panel lawyer.
I opted to have a survey done on a property in Crayford before appointing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some lenders will refuse to give a loan on such a house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Crayford. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Crayford to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
Is it simple use the search facility to get a fee calculation from a conveyancing practitioner in Crayford on the authorised to act for my bank?
Step one is to select a bank such as Accord Mortgages Ltd, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society or TSB then choose your location for instance Crayford. Conveyancing firms in Crayford and further afield should be identified.
Is it best to choose a Crayford conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can carry out the conveyancing however they are based 400miles drive away.
The primary upside of using a high street Crayford conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to sign documents, deliver your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have instructed your friend and in the main were happy that should trump using an unknown Crayford conveyancing lawyer just because they are local.
I work for a reputable estate agency in Crayford where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Crayford conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
After years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Crayford. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder 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 LVT to decide the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Crayford residence is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.