We are buying a flat and require a conveyancing solicitor in Swiss Cottage who is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Can you recommend a local conveyancing firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Barclays . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Swiss Cottage.
A friend pointed out to me me that in buying a property in Swiss Cottage there could be a number of restrictions prohibiting external alterations to a property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in Swiss Cottage which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Swiss Cottage should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Leeds Building Society. I assume I don't need a Swiss Cottage solicitor on the Leeds Building Society panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society mortgage from the register. Leeds Building Society, 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 Leeds Building Society has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Leeds Building Society has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I currently have a mortgage with Coventry BS for my property in Swiss Cottage. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. If I am intending 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 Coventry BS?
Coventry BS must be informed of your intention prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Coventry BS’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let 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 Coventry BS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Coventry BS conveyancing panel firm.
My wife and I own a terraced Georgian house in Swiss Cottage. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 Swiss Cottage and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Swiss Cottage with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent suggested that I not reveal to my lawyer about the extras as it may put at risk my mortgage with The Mortgage Works. 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.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Swiss Cottage in advance of instructing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some banks may not grant a mortgage on this type of premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Swiss Cottage. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Swiss Cottage to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I was pointed in your direction by numerous property agents in Swiss Cottage to find a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial advantage for Estate Agents to promote your lawyers over alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t make any commission for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.