My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Cumberland and are in fact using a Cumberland conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. National Westminster Bank have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Cumberland lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Cumberland lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My son-in-law is about to exchange on a new build apartment in Cumberland with a mortgage from Clydesdale. His solicitor has said that there is a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
I am close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our house in Cumberland and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A high street Cumberland conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers instructed an internet conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Cumberland. Having lived in Cumberland for 4 years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Cumberland I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cumberland for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan that many years may be an issue. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years 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 with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
What does commercial conveyancing in Cumberland cover?
Cumberland conveyancing for business premises incorporates a wide array of guidance, offered by regulated solicitors, relating to business property. By way of example, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more commonly, the assignment of existing business tenancies or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial loans and the termination of leases.
My parents cant seem to find their Cumberland land registry title on the website. They have a vague memory back in the 70’s when they acquired the house there were complications regarding Cumberland not being recognised in some systems.
The vast majority of properties in Cumberland should appear. Have you limited your search to just the postcode. Normally it should identify all the houses and flats inside that postcode. Where recorded it will be there with a title number. Where they bought 48 years ago it's conceivable it may be unrecorded. The address could still be revealed but with the title number identified as 'na'. In this scenario you will need to track down the original title documentation which may be with your parent’s lender.