I am in need of a property lawyer. Should I go for for a nationwide conveyancer as opposed to a local Pattingham conveyancing solicitor?
Pattingham is a special area, where local know-how helps. The relaxed pace of life has it’s attractions – just not for your conveyancing. The conveyancers that we work with display specialist Pattingham know how with a professional, hands-onattitude that helps everything runs smoothly. It is a distinct advantage where they enjoy good relationships with mortgage brokers, estate agents, valuers and counterpart Pattingham conveyancing practices
My fiance and I are refinancing our penthouse in Pattingham with Nottingham. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Nottingham conveyancing panel as he did not need 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 Nottingham. This is solely used to protect Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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 aunt passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Pattingham. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Co-operative, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you plan to refinance then Co-operative will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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 Co-operative mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
The deeds to our house can not be found. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in Pattingham 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my options?
You no longer need to have the physical deeds to prove you are the owner of your registered land or property, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
I work for a busy estate agent office in Pattingham where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Pattingham conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
Pattingham Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying
-
How much is the yearly maintenance fee and ground rent? Does the lease contain onerous restrictions?
My conveyancers in Pattingham have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. To assist with 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?
It very much depends from lender to lender 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 lender Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting the lender directly.