My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in St Margarets and are in fact using a St Margarets conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Leeds Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our St Margarets solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own St Margarets solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in St Margarets with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement 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.
Why do I have to pay up front for my conveyancing in St Margarets?
If you are buying a property in St Margarets your lawyer will request that you put them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any down payment is as part of the sale price then this should be required immediately prior to contracts are exchanged. The closing balance that is needed should be sent to your lawyer a few days ahead of the completion date.
Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in St Margarets. My lender is Chelsea Building Society
Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 19/4/2024, the requirements read as follows :
I am buying a new build apartment in St Margarets. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in St Margarets
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Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Please supply a car parking plan.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. St Margarets is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in St Margarets are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Margarets you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Margarets may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.