My partner and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Forestdale with RBS. We have a son 18 who lives with us. 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 flat is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the RBS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your RBS 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 RBS. This is solely used to protect RBS 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 RBS 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 see that you have a search directory identifying solicitors on the RBS conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Forestdale?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the RBS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Forestdale.
We are getting a further advance on our mortgage from RBS as we wish to conduct a loft conversion to our property in Forestdale. Do we need to appoint a high street Forestdale solicitor on the RBS conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
RBS would not normally appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the RBS panel.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Forestdale. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Lloyds be concerned?
As you are obtaining a mortgage with Lloyds your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions contained in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Lloyds. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to Lloyds where a lease fails to comply with these specifications. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Forestdale.
We were going to get a DIP from UBS this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do UBS recommend any Forestdale solicitors on the UBS conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?
You will need to appoint Forestdale solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the UBS conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and UBS through the process.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Forestdale. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Forestdale
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Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. 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. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my grandfather I am disposing of a house in Newport but reside in Forestdale. My conveyancer (who is 200 miles from merequires that I sign a stat dec ahead of completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in Forestdale to witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Forestdale
I work for a busy estate agent office in Forestdale where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Forestdale conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible 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.
Having spent months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Forestdale. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the sum to be paid.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Forestdale premises is The Woodlands 95 Purley Park Road in April 2009. The Tribunals own valuation produced the figure of £37,912. This case related to 6 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 78.32 years.