My husband and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette in Wirral with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland. This is solely used to protect Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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 purchased my home in Wirral. Conveyancing lawyers have now been instructed on the sale but I can't track down the deeds. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be with your lender or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly in all probability the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Wirral involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
The deeds to my home are lost. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Wirral 10 years ago no longer exist. What are my options?
Assuming you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be evidenced by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is possible to perform a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and obtain up to date copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases retain a file copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £305k and identified one near me in Wirral I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Wirral suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
Should you require a home loan that many years may be an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
Hoping to buy a property located in Wirral and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Wirral. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Wirral area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Wirral. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
I have recently realised that I have 72 years unexpired on my flat in Wirral. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?
If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Wirral.
Wirral Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying
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Who manages the building? You should be aware that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will affect the salability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for two years before you are eligible to extend the lease.