My husband and I are refinancing our penthouse in Witham with Co-operative. 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 flat is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 3 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 Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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.
We are selling our home in Witham and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Witham lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers are using an online conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Witham. We have lived in Witham for many years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to seek clarification that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)
Me and my brother own a renovated Georgian house in Witham. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Skipton Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Witham and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Witham in advance of retaining conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor has said that some lenders will not grant a loan on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements for example to Nationwide. If you call us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Witham. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Witham especially if they are familiar with such properties in Witham.
I have been pointed in your direction by three or four local selling agents in Witham to choose a property lawyer on your site. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over another?
We refuse to offer any financial incentive for directing people in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
Being a tenant I am liable for a maintenance contribution for my appartment in Witham. As a result of personal circumstances I fell behind with remittance. The freeholders agreed a payment plan but there is still around £2000 remaining in arrears.
I want to sell and I am worried this may jeopardize the sale if I have to discharge the amount due in advance. I'd like to sell up and then repay the debt from the proceeds - is this practicable?
The conveyancing practitioner handing your Witham sale will hopefully be in a position to negotiate with the appropriate parties, and agree with them whether or not they would accept settlement out of the completion monies. Here is an example of why it might be good to select a lawyer in Witham as they are likely to have an established relationship with the management company.