Me and my partner are hoping to purchase a 1 bedroom flat in Hilton with a mortgage. We like our Hilton lawyer, but the lender advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel conveyancing practices or continue with our Hilton solicitor and pay for one of their panel firms to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Hilton conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
It is is a decade since I purchased my house in Hilton. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been retained on the sale but I can't track down the deeds. Is this a major issue?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be retained by your lender or they may be in the possession of the lawyers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Hilton involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
A colleague advised me that where I am buying in Hilton I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Hilton conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Hilton around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Hilton.
I'm buying my first flat in Hilton with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my solicitor about this extras as it would put at risk my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Hilton prior to retaining solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor advised that some banks tend not give a mortgage on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Hilton. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Hilton to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I've recently bought a leasehold property in Hilton. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
Hilton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to buying
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What prohibitions are there in the Hilton Lease? What is the yearly service fee and ground rent? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?