We are a couple about to exchange contracts for a ground floor flat in Bury St Edmunds. We have hit a snag. Our mortgage offer with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society expires on 25/11/2025 but the owners are insisting on a completion date of 27/11/2025. Can one extend the mortgage expiry date?
The best person to address this issue is your lawyer who should assess if he or she is should be discussing with the bank, seller’s solicitors, property agents or conceivably all parties based on what has gone on in your house move as of today.
I am selling my flat in Bury St Edmunds. Does my solicitor need to be on the HSBC conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the HSBC conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently at the moment.
My husband and I are in the throws of viewing flats in Bury St Edmunds and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I am planning to take a mortgage with Co-operative.
It would be prudent to start 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 forward their details on to the estate agent. Given that you are getting a mortgage with Co-operative, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called my Bury St Edmunds bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My Bury St Edmunds conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called and was told they will not lend based on their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I have no idea who is right.
As long as the property lawyer is on the lender approved list, she or he must comply with the CML Handbook specifications for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
My offer on a detached house in Bury St Edmunds has been accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have chosen a high street conveyancing solicitor in Bury St Edmunds. What should be my next step? When do I get the mortgage application with Lloyds started?
It is normal to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (home loan application is approx £1k, then survey, Bury St Edmunds conveyancing search fees, etc). First, you must check that your property lawyer is on the Lloyds approved list. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a rising market some purchasers will apply for the mortgage with Lloyds and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their lawyer to proceed with the conveyancing in Bury St Edmunds.
How does conveyancing in Bury St Edmunds differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Bury St Edmunds come to us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because developers in Bury St Edmunds typically acquire the real estate, 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 conveyancers 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Bury St Edmunds or who has acted in the same development.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one near me in Bury St Edmunds I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bury St Edmunds in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan that many years may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.
Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold house in Bury St Edmunds. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Bury St Edmunds who acted for me is not around. What should I do?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Bury St Edmunds conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I acquired a basement flat in Bury St Edmunds, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2007. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Bury St Edmunds with over 90 years remaining are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2085
You have 60 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £20,000 and £23,000 as well as costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs 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 taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.