My partner and I are looking to purchase a property in Harlington and are in fact using a Harlington conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Harlington solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 and you may continue to use your own Harlington solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I intend to remortgage our flat in Harlington with Santander. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify 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 apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Santander conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Santander 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 Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander 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 Santander 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.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Harlington. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Harlington
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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? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.
Hoping to buy a property located in Harlington and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Harlington. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Harlington area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Harlington. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
My father-in-law has suggested that I appoint his conveyancing solicitors in Harlington. Do I follow his guidance?
Much as we are happy to recommend a Harlington conveyancing lawyer the best way to choose a conveyancing practitioner is to have guidance from friends or family who have used the solicitor that you are contemplating using.
I own a leasehold house in Harlington. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Harlington who acted for me is not around. What should I do?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Harlington conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
After months of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Harlington. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Harlington conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Harlington property is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 69 years.