I can't travel far from Honiton. I would like to know the reason why all Honiton property lawyers are not on all mortgage company panels?
As unjust as it may appear for mortgage companies to limit who can represent them, from the public’s or solicitor’s perspective, the flip side is that lending institutions are increasingly anxious and feel it essential to defend themselves against mortgage fraud. As a result of this concern lenders have reduced their conveyancing panel to a manageable size.
My fiance and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Honiton with Aldermore. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. 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 a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore 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?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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.
My wife and I have a semi-detached Victorian house in Honiton. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Bank of Scotland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should review 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Honiton and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who carried out the work.
How does conveyancing in Honiton differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Honiton approach us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because developers in Honiton tend to buy the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Honiton or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Honiton is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Honiton are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Honiton you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Honiton may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I work for a long established estate agency in Honiton where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Honiton conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is 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.
I own a 1 bedroom flat in Honiton, conveyancing having been completed September 1997. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in Honiton with a long lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease finishes on 21st October 2074
You have 53 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £27,600 and £31,800 plus legals.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.