It has come to my attention via my mortgage adviser that my Kelvedon property lawyer is not on the bank Solicitor panel. How can I be certain if this is indeed the case?
The first thing you need to do is to call your Kelvedon conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may recommend you to a Kelvedon conveyancing firm that is on the approved list of lawyers for your bank.
My wife and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Kelvedon with Virgin Money. We have a son 18 who lives at home. 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 two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Virgin Money conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement 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 Virgin Money. This is solely used to protect Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
My colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in Kelvedon I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Kelvedon conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Kelvedon around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Kelvedon Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Kelvedon.
4 months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Kelvedon took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Kelvedon ahead of instructing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Halifax. If you call us we can investigate further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Kelvedon. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
My conveyancers in Kelvedon have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. At the time of my purchase I took out a mortgage with the lender. Is it case that being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a prescribed period?
Different lenders have different requirements but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the mortgage company Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting the bank directly.