My wife and I are refinancing our maisonette in Whitechapel with UBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. 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 apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the UBS conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 UBS. This is solely used to protect UBS 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 UBS 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.
Do all mortgage companies provide you with an approved list of Whitechapel conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel?
Whitechapel conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Co-operative directly.
It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Whitechapel concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in Whitechapel differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Whitechapel approach us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is ready to move into. This is because house builders in Whitechapel tend to purchase the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Whitechapel or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Whitechapel I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Whitechapel for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
I’m about to sell my 2 bed apartment in Whitechapel. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have recently received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as usual as all ground rent and maintenance invoices will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Whitechapel conveyancing firm to assist?
in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to make a decision on the price payable.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Whitechapel residence is 1-41 Royal Tower Lodge 40 Cartwright Street in April 2013. the tribunal adding the agreed value of capitalised ground rents and the reversion the price to be paid for the freehold was £1,187,000 This case affected 41 flats. The unexpired lease term was 107 years.