My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Colchester with TSB. 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. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the TSB conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 TSB. This is solely used to protect TSB 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 TSB 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.
We are buying a apartment in Colchester. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we will need to deposit our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
This question may be naive but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a garden flat in Colchester. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in Colchester?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the vendor’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
My solicitor has informed me that lack of planning permission insurance is required on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Colchester?
The right level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Santander and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
I have todayfound out that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Colchester for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 10 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest method to see if the premises is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Colchester conveyancing specialists.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £305k and found one close by in Colchester I like with a park and station nearby, however it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Colchester for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
I am looking for a conveyancing lawyer in Colchester for my house move. Is there any facility to review a solicitor's record with the profession’s regulator?
You can search for documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations stemming from investigations from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. For information about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors record, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For non-uk callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA may recorded telephone calls for training purposes.
What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Colchester conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?
When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Colchester conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Colchester conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be of use:
-
How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
I purchased a studio flat in Colchester, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Colchester with an extended lease are worth £195,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2085
You have 63 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £16,200 and £18,600 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.