I'm the sole recipient of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Bolton. The Bolton property was put into my name in March. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in March. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires 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 could be caught by that. How practical a view banks take of it, depend on the mortgage company as this requirement is chiefly there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of property.
I'm in the process of looking at flats in Bolton and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it best to have a lawyer on ‘stand by’? I will be getting a mortgage with Nationwide.
It would be prudent to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the selling agent. Given that you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I have finally had an offer on a maisonette in Bolton agreed to, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on a flat, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other properties in the pipeline. I have selected a high street conveyancing solicitor in Bolton. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Aldermore?
It is understandable to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then valuation, Bolton conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to ensure that your conveyancer is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Regarding the subsequent steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. During a rising market the majority of home buyers will apply for a home loan with Aldermore and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their conveyancer to proceed with searches.
A friend recommended that where I am purchasing in Bolton I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally included in the estimate for your Bolton conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Bolton around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Bolton.
I'm purchasing my first flat in Bolton benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this deal as it may affect my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.
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.
I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Bolton in advance of appointing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to grant a loan on a flying freehold house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Bolton. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Bolton especially if they are familiar with such properties in Bolton.
There are only 72 years left on my flat in Bolton. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?
If 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 extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Bolton.
I invested in buying a 1st floor flat in Bolton, conveyancing having been completed July 2003. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable flats in Bolton with an extended lease are worth £195,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease expires on 21st October 2089
With only 64 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £14,300 and £16,400 plus costs.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.
How much will conveyancing in Bolton cost?
The total sum charged for Bolton conveyancing costs are likely to be calculated at:
- a fixed fee; or
- on a time spent basis (i.e. the time spent on the particular case).
These days very few Bolton conveyancing solicitors invoice on an hourly basis