My partner and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette in Wilton with Clydesdale. 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. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as he did not need 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 Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale. This is solely used to protect Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale 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.
It is a dozen years since I bought my home in Wilton. Conveyancing lawyers have now been retained on the sale but I am unable to find the title deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be retained by your lender or they could be in the possession of the lawyers who handled your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Wilton involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
My flat in Wilton is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does the conveyancer need to be required to be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently currently.
My father pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Wilton there may be various restrictions as to what one can do in terms of external alterations to a property. Is this right?
There are anumerous of properties in Wilton which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Wilton should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
I am selling my house. I had a double glazing fitted in June 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, HSBC are being a right pain. The Wilton solicitor who is on the HSBC conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but HSBC are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do HSBC have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that HSBC have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why HSBC may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Wilton solicitor - who is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Leeds Building Society will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Leeds Building Society 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. You may wish to consider appointing your own Wilton surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Various online forums that I have visited warn that are the primary cause of delay in Wilton house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Wilton.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Wilton. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Wilton
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Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.