My solicitor has uncovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are buying in Radford. The other side have put forward defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our property lawyer has advised that he must check that the bank is willing to move forward with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the lender?
Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. You and the mortgage company are the client. The appropriate lender provisions have to be complied with.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Radford costs more?
Radford leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
I happen to be the only beneficiary of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name alone, including the my former home in Radford. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in December. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship may be considered the same way as if I'd bought the property in December. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be impacted by that. How sensible a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the bank as this provision principally exists to pick up on subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
We are getting the release of further monies on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we intend to carry out renovations to our property in Radford. Are we obliged to choose a nearby Radford solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Bank of Ireland don't usually instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers 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 Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel.
Skipton have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a house in Radford has been accepted, now what?
Your property agent will need to know who your solicitors are (be sure the conveyancing practitioners are on the lender’s approved list). Call up Skipton or your financial adviser and complete any outstanding documentation. Skipton will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or seller to book a time for the valuation to take place. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about a week to get a mortgage offer. Skipton will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Radford.
I'm buying my first flat in Radford with a mortgage from The Royal Bank of Scotland. The builders refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not inform my solicitor about this deal as it could put at risk my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Radford prior to instructing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies tend not give a loan on this type of property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check via the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Radford. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Radford from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Radford can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers. If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Radford state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
Radford Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing
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What is the name of the managing agents? Many Radford leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the management company. If you buy the property you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments accross the year. This may vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a large sum, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to check as on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive.