I own a freehold residence in St Athan yet pay rent, why is this and what is this?
It is rare for properties in St Athan and has limited impact for conveyancing in St Athan but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges date back hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the creation of new rentcharges from 1977 onwards.
Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence in 2037 is to be dispensed with completely.
We are selling our home in St Athan. Does my conveyancing practitioner have to be required to be on the Principality conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Principality conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently at the moment.
I am helping my step-mother sell her property in St Athan. Will the conveyancing solicitor order an energy performance certificate or it is for the seller to coordinate?
After the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates was maintained a mandatory part of selling a house. An energy assessment should be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. It is not something that law firms normally organise. Where you are instructing a St Athan conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange energy assessments due to their contacts with reputable local assessors
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in St Athan. My mortgage broker suggested a lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the UBS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the UBS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local St Athan solicitor - who is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Coventry BS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Coventry BS will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own St Athan surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in St Athan?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in St Athan. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I am purchasing my first flat in St Athan with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it could put at risk my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our St Athan ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a St Athan conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Notwithstanding that your previous St Athan conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.
Leasehold Conveyancing in St Athan - Sample of Queries before buying
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Most St Athan leasehold properties will have a service bill for the upkeep of the building levied by the freeholder. Where you buy the apartment you will have to meet this charge, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant figure, say about £25-£75 but you need to check as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds. How long is the Lease?