My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Kingstanding with Kent Reliance. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose 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 apartment is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance. This is solely used to protect Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
Why do I have to pay up front when it comes to conveyancing in Kingstanding?
If you are buying a property in Kingstanding your lawyer will request that you put them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. If any deposit is payable against the total price then this will be required shortly before exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed should be sent to your lawyer a few days ahead of the completion date.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Kingstanding in advance of appointing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor advised that some lenders tend not grant a loan on such a premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Kingstanding. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
My husband and I are FTB’s - had an offer accepted, but the property agent advised that the vendor will only move forward if we instruct the agent's preferred conveyancers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a family conveyancer used to conveyancing in Kingstanding
It is improbable the owners are driving this. Should the owner want ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Avoid the agents and go straight to the sellers and make the point that (a)you are genuine purchasers (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you are going to appoint your preferred Kingstanding conveyancing solicitors - as opposed tothose that will provide their estate agent a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing figures set by head office.
I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Kingstanding. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have recently received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
It best that you discharge the maintenance contribution as normal given that all rents and service invoices should be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Kingstanding - Sample of Queries before Purchasing
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Plenty Kingstanding leasehold flats will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block levied by the management company. Should you buy the flat you will have to pay this amount, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a large sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. Where a Kingstanding lease has less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably require a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the residence for a couple of years before you are legally able to extend the lease. How long is the Lease?
Builders have recommended to me a conveyancer and I've sought a quote from them. They are almost three hundred pounds cheaper than my preferred Kingstanding conveyancing practitioner. Should I use them?
Developers normally have lists of property lawyers who expedite matters and who know the builder's documentation and property lawyer. As many developers offer an incentive to select a preferred lawyer for this reason, any increased cost can be avoided and a builder will not suggest a conveyancing warehouse and run the risk of having the transaction stall when they need an exchange inside a month. The argument for not opting for the recommended property lawyer is that they may be unwilling to fight for your interests at the risk of upsetting the housebuilder. If you worry that this may be the situation you should stick with your local Kingstanding lawyer.