My wife and I intend to remortgage our flat in Leeswood with TSB. 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, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the TSB conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 TSB. This is solely used to protect TSB 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 TSB 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 am in the process of remortgaging my house in Leeswood, does my lawyer have to be on the Coventry BS Conveyancing panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel, but Coventry BS would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same conveyancing matter.
I am assisting my niece sell her flat in Leeswood. Will the conveyancer arrange an energy assessment or it is for the owner to see to?
Following the demise of Home Packs, energy performance certificates was retained a mandatory component of moving house. An energy performance certificate needs to be commissioned before the property is advertised. It is not as aspect of the sale process that conveyancers ordinarily arrange. Where you are using a Leeswood conveyancing lawyer they might be willing to arrange energy performance certificates given their contacts with long established local energy assessors
I can not work out if my lender obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called into my local Leeswood building society branch on a couple of occasions and was advised it wasn't a problem and they will lend. My Leeswood conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they will not lend in accordance with their published requirements. I have no idea who is right.
Your conveyancer must comply with the CML Handbook section two requirements for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Leeswood. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £150. A few days later, the conveyancer contacted me to say that they were not on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Skipton panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in Leeswood and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers used an internet conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Leeswood. We have lived in Leeswood for 4 years we know that this is a non issue. Should we contact our local Authority to seek clarification need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)
I own a renovated Victorian property in Leeswood. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and National Westminster Bank. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to review 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 Leeswood 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 mortgage companies. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
Me and my fiance are soon to exchange buying a house in Leeswood but as a result of wreckage from the recent storms I have negotiated recompense from the current proprietors of four thousand pounds by way of a reduction in the price. I had intended this to be addressed as part of the conveyancing process however the mortgage company will not agree to this. Should they have been involved?
Your property lawyer listed on a bank approved list is required to inform the mortgage company of any amendments to the purchase figure. If you did not allow your conveyancer to disclose the price change to your mortgage company then they would have to disinstructing themselves from representing you and the bank.