I am in the process of remortgaging my home in Wantage, does my lawyer have to be on the Bank of Ireland Conveyancing panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel, but Bank of Ireland would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same transaction.
The mortgage over my property is with Aldermore for my property in Wantage. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Aldermore?
You must advise Aldermore in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Aldermore’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Aldermore will allow you to rent 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 Aldermore directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Wantage. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I would like to complain about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are sorted out effectively and efficiently. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Wantage. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. Not long after, the conveyancer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Lloyds panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Wantage I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Wantage suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
I'm refinancing my primary property to a BTL mortgage with Birmingham Midshires and intend to use the remaining equity towards further property. The location we are interested in is Wantage. Will your conveyancers be able to act for both sets of lenders and tie in the two deals?
Do use our search tool on this site to check that the conveyancers are approved by both banks. Having checked that they are the lawyer should be able to tie up the two conveyancing matters but you should talk with you conveyancer and make clear your desired outcome and needs.
I am employed by a long established estate agency in Wantage where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Wantage conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Wantage - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Who is in charge of the block? How much is the ground rent and service charge?
I am buying a ground floor maisonette in Wantage. Conveyancing lawyer has been awaiting, from the owner, building insurance paperwork. I was told today I was informed that the seller must forward the insurance documents for the flat above also. Why does my conveyancer want to check the insurance for the other flat? Is it really required? We have been waiting for the previous fortnight…
It is not unheard of in leasehold conveyancing in Wantage to discover Conveyancing in Wantage in a minority of cases reveals that the lease requires the leasehold owners to insure their individual flats as opposed to the freeholder insuring the complete premises - which is definitely preferable. You should contact your solicitor but it would appear that your conveyancing practitioner is attempting to verify that the entire building is insured. Insuring a ground floor apartment is no help when it comes to rebuilding after a fire if the other flat cannot be reconstructed for lack of insurance.