I am selling my house in The Ridgeway. Will the conveyancer need to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nottingham 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 happen to be the sole recipient of my late father’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in The Ridgeway. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in June. I plan to dispose of the property. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership could be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in June. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook obliges solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you could be impacted by that. How sensible a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the bank as this obligation principally exists to capture subsales or the flipping of properties.
We had selected conveyancing lawyers based in The Ridgeway on the HSBC solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional sum for the legal aspects of the HSBC mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by HSBC?
Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your lawyer can levy a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by HSBC but by your The Ridgeway solicitor. Numerous firms on the HSBC panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
Having digested plenty of mortgage guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local The Ridgeway solicitor - who is on the TSB conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
TSB will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually TSB 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 The Ridgeway 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.
Me and my brother have a terraced Georgian property in The Ridgeway. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and HSBC Bank. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in The Ridgeway and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also question the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in The Ridgeway I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in The Ridgeway for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be an issue. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in The Ridgeway. Conveyancing has not commenced, however I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?
It best that you pay the maintenance contribution as you normally would as all rents and maintenance charges will be allotted on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.
I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in The Ridgeway. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?
You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a The Ridgeway conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a The Ridgeway residence is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 76 years.
Do I need to pop into the offices of the bank conveyancing panel solicitor to sign the legal charge? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in The Ridgeway as it will be easier to attend their offices if necessary.
As opposed to ten years ago, most lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID Documents and there are still distinct advantages to using a local solicitor, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in The Ridgeway.