My partner and I are hoping to buy a flat in Shifnal and are in fact using a Shifnal conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nottingham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Shifnal solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Shifnal lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Shifnal with Skipton. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Skipton 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 Skipton. This is solely used to protect Skipton 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 Skipton 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.
Is it necessary to take out insurance to cover chancel repairs when buying a property in Shifnal?
Unless a prior purchase of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in Shifnal to remain recommending a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
How does conveyancing in Shifnal differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Shifnal come to us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because developers in Shifnal typically buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Shifnal or who has acted in the same development.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Shifnal I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Shifnal in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Shifnal where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Shifnal conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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 agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.
Shifnal Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying
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Does this lease have in excess of 85 years left? Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other major work is coming up that will be shared between the leaseholders and could well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or result in a one off payment. What restrictions exist in the Shifnal Lease?