My husband and I intend to remortgage our apartment in Trafford with Santander. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Santander conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 5 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 Santander 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 Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander 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 Santander 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.
I have been told that property searches are a common cause of delay in Trafford conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Trafford.
I used Stirling Law a few years past for my conveyancing in Trafford. I now require my file but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Trafford of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Trafford in advance of retaining conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor has said that some banks will not give a mortgage on a flying freehold home.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with 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 Trafford. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
My partner has suggested that I use his conveyancers in Trafford. Should I choose my own solicitor?
No doubt the best way to choose a conveyancing lawyer is to have referrals from friends or relatives who have previously instructed the firm that you are considering.
I am looking at a two apartments in Trafford both have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?
There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Trafford is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. For most buyers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Trafford conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.
Trafford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying
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Who is in charge of the block? You should be aware if it is fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Traffordlease extensions you would need to own the property for two years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants?