My fiance and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Plymouth with Leeds Building Society. We have a son 18 who lives with us. 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 flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society. This is solely used to protect Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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 brother-in-law has suggested I instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Plymouth. I I am struggling to find out whether they are accepted on the Platform Home Loans Ltd approved list of lawyers. Can you advise?
You should call your solicitor and ask them whether they are on the lender panel. Alternatively you should call Platform Home Loans Ltd who may be able to assist.
I used Wolstenholmes several years ago for my conveyancing in Plymouth. I now require my papers but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Plymouth of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Plymouth I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Plymouth in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage that many years will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.
Taking into account that I am about to part with £400,000 on 3 bedroom house in Plymouth I wish to have a conversation with the lawyer concerning thehome move before giving the go ahead to the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
We could not agree more - we would be pleased to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the lawyer due to be carrying out your property ownership legalities in Plymouth.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique individual, not a file reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are calculated and presented to you for your conveyancing in Plymouth should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.
Am I better off to instruct a Plymouth conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can carry out the legal work but they are based 400miles drive away.
The benefit of a local Plymouth conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust instructed your friend and they were impressed that should outweigh using an unfamiliar Plymouth conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being local.