My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Harpenden. 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 Barclays, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you plan to refinance then Barclays will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Barclays 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 Barclays 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 Barclays mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Me and my partner are buying a flat in Harpenden. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we will need to send funds 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.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Coventry BS, do Harpenden conveyancers incur a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any mortgage company fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Harpenden. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I would like to complain about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
What will a local search reveal about the house we're buying in Harpenden?
Harpenden conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company such as Xpress Legal The local search is essential in every Harpenden conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your new home. The search will supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic areas.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Harpenden I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Harpenden in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Harpenden where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Harpenden conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer need not have to sit tight for 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 simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Harpenden - A selection of Queries before Purchasing
-
On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Harpenden require tenants to pay into a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major works. It is important to be aware if fixing the lift or some other major work is due in the foreseeable future that will be shared by the leaseholders and may well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or necessitate a one time payment. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments?
We own a leasehold flat in Harpenden. Conveyancing was completed in 2010. I have heard that I should not let the the remaining lease term to get too short. What is the reasoning?
Harpenden leasehold properties are for a fixed term - usually 99 years when they are first granted. However many appartments in Harpenden were built or converted in the 60’s and so these leases now have fewer than 80 years left to run. This may sound like plenty of time but Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage companies generally need leases to have a minimum of 75 years left to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are getting close to seventy five years. To enhance the saleability of your property you should be considering whether or not to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. You should note that there are advantages to doing so before the lease reaches even 80 years as when the lease is below 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.