My fiance and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Whiteley with Yorkshire BS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 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 Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS. This is solely used to protect Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS 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.
How up to date is your search tool for Whiteley conveyancing solicitors on the Barclays conveyancing panel? Do Barclays send you an updated list?
Whiteley conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Barclays directly.
The Whiteley conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Whiteley have without warning closed. I only went with them because I had to have a firm on the Nationwide conveyancing panel and my family Whiteley lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to assist.
Will our solicitor be asking questions concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Whiteley.
Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Whiteley. Plenty of people will purchase a property in Whiteley, completely expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.
Conveyancers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a numerous checks that can be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should give them a better appreciation of the risks in Whiteley. The conventional set of information sent to a buyer’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual question of the owner to discover whether the premises has historically flooded. In the event that flooding has previously occurred and is not disclosed by the vendor, then a purchaser may bring a claim for damages stemming from an misleading answer. The purchaser’s conveyancers may also order an enviro search. This will indicate if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further investigations will need to be initiated.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Whiteley prior to instructing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor advised that some lenders may not give a mortgage on such a house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you call us we can investigate further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Whiteley. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Whiteley to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
Do I need to be suspicious by third parties that I am dealing with are recommending a national conveyancing firm rather than a local Whiteley conveyancing company?
As with many professional services, often recommendations from connections can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are lots of parties with a vested interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and mortgage companies may recommend lawyers to instruct. Sometimes the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there exists a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You have the discretion to choose your own conveyancer. However, bear in mind that the majority of banks operate an approved list of law firms you have to use for the mortgage related work in your house move.