My partner and I are refinancing our apartment in Birchington with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he did not need 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 Birchington. Conveyancing solicitors have just been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate the deeds. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be kept by the lender or they could be in the possession of the solicitor who acted in your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Birchington involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more problematic but is resolvable.
My wife and I own a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in Birchington. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Aldermore. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. Is it worth asking Aldermore to clarify?
You need to review 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 Birchington and other locations in 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 mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.
How does conveyancing in Birchington differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Birchington come to us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Birchington typically buy the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Birchington or who has acted in the same development.
I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Birchington. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Birchington.
Birchington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing
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Does the lease contain onerous restrictions? The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that could add a premium to the service charges?
Our lender agreed in principle to grant us a mortgage. We have retained a long established conveyancer in Birchington last week. Today, our mortgage adviser called to say that the bank said that we cannot use our solicitor as they aren't on their 'approved list'. As novices, we had no idea that the lender had some control over our choice Is this usual?
You can actually choose any property lawyer you wish to instruct for your conveyancing in Birchington however if they are not on the your lender's approved list you will have to incur an extra fee so the mortgage company can instruct their own lawyers. On occasion it is possible your solicitor may apply to get included on to the lender list of approved firms. You can use online search facilities such as lenderpanel.com to find a conveyancing solcitor in Birchington on the mortgage company panel. You can go into your local mortgage company branch in Birchington. They will know some good conveyancing solicitors in Birchington on the approved list.