My husband and I are planning to purchase a home in Spondon and are in fact using a Spondon conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Spondon conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Spondon lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Spondon? Is this really necessary?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the potential client they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing instruction. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt reaffirm this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. Should you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you.
I happen to be the sole beneficiary of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Spondon. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in October. I plan to dispose of the house. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', meaning my property ownership may be considered the same way as if I'd bought the property in October. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be affected by that. How practical a view lenders take of it, depend on the bank as this clause chiefly exists to capture subsales or the flipping of property.
We had chosen conveyancers based in Spondon on the Principality solicitor panel. They have just billed me a separate amount for handling the Principality mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Principality?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner is entitled to charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by Principality but by your Spondon lawyer. Some firms on the Principality panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but plenty of firms incorporate it on their overall fee.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Spondon. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £175. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Spondon I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Spondon for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
I today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it more attractive. I have just discovered that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Spondon. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?
The majority of houses in Spondon are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Spondon in which case you should be shopping around for a Spondon conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.
I inherited a 2 bed flat in Spondon, conveyancing was carried out April 2005. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Spondon with an extended lease are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2086
With just 61 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £19,000 and £22,000 as well as professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.
What can I do to determine who is the owner of a house in Spondon?
On the basis that the property is recorded at HM Land Registry, and you have requisite specifics of the location of the premises, you should be able to view details from the HMLR of the registered proprietor for a fee.