My fiancee and I are purchasing our first house. The lawyer has e-mailedto check if we would like to order supplemental conveyancing searches. Frankly we are clueless as to what's appropriate for conveyancing in Portishead
The type of Portishead conveyancing searches should be triggered based entirely on the property, the location, the possibility of any of these risks, your knowledge of the area and risks, your general appetite to risk. What matters is that you properly comprehend what information the searches could give you. Then you can decide if you personally think you need that information. Where you are unsure, ask your solicitor to explain.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Lloyds. I assume I don't need a Portishead solicitor on the Lloyds panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Lloyds mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Lloyds mortgage from the register. Lloyds, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Lloyds has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Lloyds has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I currently have a mortgage with Barclays for my property in Portishead. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Barclays?
Your original mortgage agreement with Barclays will provide that you need their approval prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Barclays’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Barclays directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Barclays conveyancing panel solicitor.
I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in December 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, Yorkshire BS are being a right pain. The Portishead solicitor who is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Yorkshire BS are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Yorkshire BS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Yorkshire BS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Yorkshire BS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
Should our solicitor be raising enquiries concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Portishead.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers conducting conveyancing in Portishead. Plenty of people will purchase a house in Portishead, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical damage, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Conveyancers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, but there are a various checks that can be initiated by the buyer or by their lawyers which will figure out the risks in Portishead. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual inquiry of the vendor to determine if the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that the residence has been flooded in past and is not notified by the vendor, then a purchaser may bring a legal claim for losses as a result of such an misleading response. A purchaser’s lawyers should also order an environmental search. This should disclose if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be initiated.
Me and my brother have a semi-detached Victorian property in Portishead. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Portishead and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Portishead prior to retaining lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. Our surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to issue a mortgage on such a premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Portishead. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
My husband and I are new to the buying process - had an offer accepted, but the selling agent has warned us that the owners will only go ahead if we use the agent's preferred lawyers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local solicitor used to conveyancing in Portishead
It is highly unlikely the owners are driving this. Should the owner desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Try to communicate with the sellers directly and make the point that (a)you are serious buyers (b)you are ready to go, with finances in place © you have nothing to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you intend to use your own,trusted Portishead conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will provide the negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or meet his conveyancing targets set by senior management.