We were just about to exchange contracts for a property in Dolgellau. We have hit a problem. The loan offer with Yorkshire Building Society runs out on 31/7/2023 but the owners are insisting on a completion date of 2/8/2023. Can one extend the loan offer?
The person best placed to address this concern is your lawyer who is in a position to determine whether they corresponding with the mortgage company, seller’s conveyancers, estate agents or indeed all three given the history of your house move to date.
As someone clueless as to the Dolgellau conveyancing process what is your top tip you can impart for the ownership transfer in Dolgellau
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Dolgellau and elsewhere in England and Wales is often a confrontational process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for conflict between you and other parties involved in the transaction. E.g., the seller, estate agent and on occasion the mortgage company. Selecting a lawyer for your conveyancing in Dolgellau an important selection as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the legal process whose role it is to act in your best interests and to protect you.
We are witnessing a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. You should always trust your solicitor ahead of the other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
I am helping my aunt sell her property in Dolgellau. Will the conveyancing solicitor arrange the energy performance certificate or do I organise this?
After the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s was retained a mandatory part of selling a property. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned before the property is marketed. It is not as aspect of the sale process that law firms normally arrange. If you are using a Dolgellau conveyancing solicitor they may be willing to arrange energy performance certificates given their relationships with reputable local assessors
When it comes to lenders such as Virgin Money, do Dolgellau property lawyers incur an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
The mortgage over my property is with Lloyds for my property in Dolgellau. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Lloyds?
Your original mortgage agreement with Lloyds will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Lloyds’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Lloyds directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Lloyds conveyancing panel firm.
I have a semi-detached Victorian house in Dolgellau. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Barnsley Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 Dolgellau and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Dolgellau I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Dolgellau in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.
I have been pointed in your direction by a few estate agents in Dolgellau to select a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to recommend your site over and above a competitor’s?
We don’t make any commission for sending work in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.