My wife and I are refinancing our flat in Covent Garden with Aldermore. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults 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 property is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Aldermore 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 Aldermore. This is solely used to protect Aldermore 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 Aldermore 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.
I am the registered owner of a freehold property in Covent Garden yet charged rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Covent Garden and has limited impact for conveyancing in Covent Garden but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges date back many centuries, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the creation of fresh rentcharges post 1977.
Previous rentcharges can now be redeemed by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence after 2037 is to be dispensed with completely.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is removed from the HSBC Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Covent Garden?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
Should our conveyancer be asking questions regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Covent Garden.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers carrying out conveyancing in Covent Garden. Plenty of people will buy a property in Covent Garden, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical damage, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that may be undertaken by the buyer or by their lawyers which will give them a better appreciation of the risks in Covent Garden. The conventional set of information given to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a usual inquiry of the vendor to find out if the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past which is not disclosed by the seller, then a purchaser may commence a compensation claim stemming from an misleading reply. A buyer’s solicitors should also commission an environmental search. This will indicate if there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be carried out.
What tools are available to locate a Covent Garden solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am happy to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the lawyer.
You can use the search on this website. Please pick a lender and your location and you will see a number of Covent Garden conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have detailed some Covent Garden conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can ring them to verify if they are on the Santander panel
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Covent Garden. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.
If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Covent Garden - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such matters? Can you recommend a Covent Garden conveyancing firm to assist?
Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Covent Garden property is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 73.26 years.