My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Richmond with Virgin Money. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Virgin Money conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 Virgin Money. This is solely used to protect Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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 partner and I are selling our house in Richmond and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. Any high street Richmond lawyer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Richmond. We have lived in Richmond for three years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. Are they able to advise? You must check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)
I am buying a new build house in Richmond with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about the extras as it could affect my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.
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.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one close by in Richmond I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Richmond for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.
I have been recommended by a number of property agents in Richmond to choose a property lawyer on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your services rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to make any commission for sending work our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
I own a leasehold flat in Richmond. Conveyancing was finalised in last year. I have read on a number of advice forums that I mustn’t allow the lease length get too short. What is the reasoning?
Richmond residential long term leases are for a prescribed period - often 99 years when they are first granted. However a significant flats in Richmond were constructed or converted 20 or more years ago and so such leases now have less than eighty years unexpired. That may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally need leases to have at least seventy five years remaining to adequate security. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are nearing 75 years. To optimize your property value you should be considering whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also strong financial reasons to doing so before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease falls below 80 years the amount you have to pay to extend starts to increase.