My husband and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Grays with TSB. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. 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 bought 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.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Grays is more expensive?
Grays leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
We just had an offer accepted to buy with Melton Mowbray Building Society. We have called around locally but am unable to find a Grays conveyancing firm on the Melton Mowbray Building Society panel. Can you assist?
Please do make use of the find a lender approved solicitor tool on this site. Please choose the lender and type Grays or your preferred area and you will be presented with numerous solicitors offices in Grays or nearest you.
How does conveyancing in Grays differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Grays contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Grays tend to acquire the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Grays or who has acted in the same development.
I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed flat in Grays. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, but I have recently had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
It best that you clear the service charge as usual because all ground rent and maintenance payments should be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can one apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Grays conveyancing firm to assist?
in cases where there is a missing landlord or if 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 price.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Grays flat 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 unexpired term was 76 years.
What can I do where I am unhappy with the lawyer who carried out our conveyancing in Grays?
Occasionally the level of service you receive is not as you expect, and unfortunately sometimes matters do not go as planned. Nevertheless there is recourse where you were unhappy with your conveyancing in Grays. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a conveyancer to their regulator. If things still aren’t resolved you may consider getting in touch with the Legal Ombudsman.