My partner and I intend to remortgage our apartment in Great Shelford with Co-operative. 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 lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish 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 Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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 a renovated Edwardian house in Great Shelford. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Coventry Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Coventry Building Society to clarify?
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Great Shelford and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
I opted to have a survey completed on a property in Great Shelford before retaining lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some banks tend not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Great Shelford. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
I was advised by a few property agents in Great Shelford to choose a conveyancer on your site. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to promote your lawyers over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t make any financial incentive for directing people to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold flat in Great Shelford. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Great Shelford who acted for me is not around. Any advice?
First contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Great Shelford conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Great Shelford - A selection of Queries before buying
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The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the leaseholders have control and although a managing agent is frequently employed if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. What restrictions exist in the Great Shelford Lease? Does this lease have more than 80 years remaining?
My 20yr old son is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the seller agreed the offer on the flat we telephoned the lender to issue the formal offer. We were disappointed to discover that mortgage companies do not accept all lawyer, they have to be on a list, is this legal?
Mortgage Companies ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Great Shelford solicitor on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Presumably not.