My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Bedwas. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Co-operative, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you plan to re-mortgage then Co-operative will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Co-operative conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Co-operative mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
What does a local search inform me about the property we're purchasing in Bedwas?
Bedwas conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company such as Searchflow The local search is essential in every Bedwas conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search will provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject areas.
I own a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Bedwas. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Santander. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with 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 for 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 Bedwas 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 lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
I am buying a new build house in Bedwas benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this deal as it could jeopardize my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Bedwas ahead of appointing lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor has said that some lenders tend refuse to issue a mortgage on this type of property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions from Nationwide. If you call us we can look into this further with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Bedwas. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Bedwas especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Bedwas.
Much to my surprise my conveyancing solicitor in Bedwas has requested from me personal identification documents stating that this forms part of his retainer as a conveyancer on the mortgage company Solicitor panel. Is this right?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the bank. This is not unique to conveyancing in Bedwas