I have a mortgage with Leeds Building Society for my property in Walkington. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. Should I wish 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 Leeds Building Society?
You must advise Leeds Building Society before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Leeds Building Society’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 Leeds Building Society directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel firm.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Walkington conveyancing practitioner having made sure that they are on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Skipton will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Skipton 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. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Walkington postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Skipton, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Walkington.
HSBC have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a house in Walkington has been accepted, what are the next steps?
Your estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Call up HSBC or your financial adviser and finalise any appropriate forms. HSBC will instruct a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book a slot for the valuation to occur. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a fortnight to receive the mortgage offer. HSBC will issue the offer to you and your conveyancing practitioners. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Walkington.
We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our house in Walkington and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed land that was not decontaminated. A local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a nationwide conveyancing practice rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Walkington. We have lived in Walkington for 5 years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I'm buying my first flat in Walkington with a mortgage from Platform Home Loans Ltd. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it will impact my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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 UK Finance website. UK Finance 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.
I decided to have a survey carried out on a property in Walkington before instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks will refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Walkington. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Walkington especially if they regularly deal with such properties in Walkington.
My business partner and I are intending to take an assignment of a lease of an office on the high street. Can you recommend lawyers offering no-move-no costs for commercial conveyancing in Walkington for less than 2k?
We are happy to recommend firms who have an in-depth of experience of commercial conveyancing in Walkington, including the disposal and acquisition of businesses as well as simply premises. Whether you are looking to buy or sell a shop, pub, restaurant, office, retail unit or a whole business we will put you in touch with the right lawyer. Regarding the charges these will vary based on the structure and nuances of the deal. Let us have your contact information or phone so as to enable us to supply you with a fixed commercial conveyancing calculation.
My wife and I are purchasing a studio flat in Walkington. When we first instructed lawyer, they said that they were on all major UK lender panels. Our mortgage broker contacted us today to advise that they don't seem to be on the Virgin Money approved list. If it turns out to be true, what should we do? Should we simply pick a new solicitor that is on their panel or should we pay for dual representation, with Virgin Money appointing their own preferred property lawyer.
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchaser’s lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a conveyancer has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the conveyancer to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the conveyancer has to meet. Some mortgage companies now require their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your lawyer should contact Virgin Money to find out if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on Virgin Money's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Walkington solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another solicitor into the equation.