My wife and I are refinancing our penthouse in Eltham with Barclays. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Barclays conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Barclays 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 Barclays. This is solely used to protect Barclays 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 Barclays 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 I need to pop into the offices of the solicitor to execute the mortgage deed? If so, I will appoint a lawyer who conducts conveyancing in Eltham so that I can attend their offices when needed.
These days approved lawyers for mortgage companies conduct their communications via the post, e-mail or over phone calls. This means that they can undertake the legal work for your home move regardless of where you live in the country. However you should see if you have the option of going to the offices of your conveyancing lawyer if needed.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Eltham. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Eltham
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Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please provide evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier?
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Eltham is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Eltham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Eltham you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Eltham 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 premises.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Eltham from the perspective of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Eltham can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Eltham state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand. If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled. A minority of Eltham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
I am the proprietor of a a ground floor purpose built flat in Eltham. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum due for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Eltham premises is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case affected 1 flat.
My wife and I are buying a studio flat in Eltham. When we first instructed lawyer, we were told they were on all major UK lender panels. The mortgage broker contacted us yesterday to say that they don't appear to be on the Bank of Ireland approved list. If it turns out to be true, what should we do? Do we simply pick a different solicitor that is on their approved list or do we pay for dual representation, with Bank of Ireland selecting their own preferred conveyancer.
When acquiring a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the buyer’s solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the conveyancing practitioner to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the conveyancer has to fulfill. Some lenders now require their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact Bank of Ireland 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on Bank of Ireland's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Eltham solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.