My fiance and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Tintern with HSBC. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the HSBC conveyancing panel as he never had 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?
First, rest assured that your HSBC 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 HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC 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 HSBC 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.
We are selling our apartment in Tintern. Will the conveyancing practitioner need to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nationwide 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 requirements fairly frequently in recent years.
A relative suggested that if I am buying in Tintern I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Tintern conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Tintern around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Tintern Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Tintern.
Me and my brother own a terraced Georgian property in Tintern. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Bank of Scotland. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Bank of Scotland to clarify?
You should 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 Tintern and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the position with your conveyancing lawyer who carried out the work.
Should I be wary by brokers that I am dealing with are recommending an online conveyancing firm rather than a local Tintern conveyancing company?
As with many professional services, often input from family and friends can be worth their weight in gold. But there are numerous parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and mortgage companies may suggest solicitors to appoint. On occasion the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there might be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to select your own conveyancer. You need to be aware that most mortgage providers have an approved list of conveyancers you are obliged to use for the mortgage related work in your transaction.
I've found a house that appears to be perfect, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Tintern. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Tintern ?
Most houses in Tintern are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Tintern in which case you should be looking for a Tintern conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.
I purchased a leasehold flat in Tintern, conveyancing having been completed 6 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Tintern with an extended lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2088
With just 62 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £17,100 and £19,800 plus professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.