Me and my partner are hoping to acquire a 2 bedroom apartment in Forest Hill with a mortgage. We have a Forest Hill conveyancer, however the lender advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel firms or continue with our Forest Hill solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Forest Hill conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My wife and I swapping mortgage lender for our maisonette in Forest Hill with Barclays. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Barclays conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 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 Barclays 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 Barclays. This is solely used to protect Barclays 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 Barclays 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.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Forest Hill? Is this really necessary?
Forest Hill conveyancing solicitors and indeed property lawyers throughout the UK have an obligation under Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules to verify the identity of any client in order to satisfy themselves that clients are who they say they are.
Conveyancing clients will need to disclose two forms of certified identification; proof of ID (usually a Passport or Driving Licence) and proof of address (typically a Utility Bill no older than three months).
Proof of source of funds is also necessary under the money laundering regulations as solicitors are obliged to investigate that the money you are utilising to purchase a property (whether it be the deposit for exchange or the full purchase monies if you are buying mortgage free) has come from legitimate source (such as an inheritance) and is not the proceeds of illegitimate behaviour.
My grandfather passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Forest Hill. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Nottingham, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you plan to re-mortgage then Nottingham will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Nottingham conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Nottingham mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I am buying a new build flat in Forest Hill. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill
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The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.
I am employed by a long established estate agency in Forest Hill where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Forest Hill conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I inherited a a ground floor purpose built flat in Forest Hill. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?
if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Forest Hill residence is Flat 1 40-42 Ewelme Road in August 2012. the Tribunal assessed the premium for the lease extension in the sum of £11,800 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 61.81 years.