Our conveyancer has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are buying in London Colney. The seller’s lawyers have offered title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our conveyancing practitioner has advised that he must be satisfied that the bank is content with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
Even though you have a mortgage offer from the mortgage company does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. You and the lender are the client. The appropriate lender specifications must be adhered to.
My grandfather passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in London Colney. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to TSB, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you plan to re-mortgage then TSB will insist on your using a conveyancer on the TSB conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your TSB conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the TSB mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as a 1st time buyer of a ground floor flat in London Colney. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my conveyancer? If so, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in London Colney?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the completion advance to the vendor’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you should be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens between 1 and 3pm.
My husband and I have arranged a further advance on our home loan from RBS as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our house in London Colney. Do we need to appoint a high street London Colney solicitor on the RBS conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
RBS do not ordinarily appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the RBS panel.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a London Colney conveyancer having made sure that they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Coventry BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Coventry BS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own London Colney surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I am buying a house and the lawyer has raised the issue of Chancel Repair for which the house could be liable because it falls into the area of such a church. He has recommended insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in London Colney
Unless a previous acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you can assume that solicitors conducting conveyancing in London Colney to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in London Colney I like with open areas and station nearby, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in London Colney suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in London Colney both have about 50 years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in London Colney is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. For most buyers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with London Colney conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease. You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
I bought a garden flat in London Colney, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1999. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in London Colney with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2086
With just 60 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £20,000 and £23,000 plus costs.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.