Our solicitor has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Islington. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our lawyer says that he must be satisfied that the bank is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. You and the lender are the client. These conveyancing instructions must be adhered to.
My aunt passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Islington. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to TSB, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
If you intend to refinance then TSB will insist on your using a conveyancer on the TSB 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 TSB 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 TSB mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I am assisting my sister sell her flat in Islington. Will the solicitor order an energy assessment or do I organise this?
After the abolition of Home Packs, energy performance certificates was left as a mandatory component of moving property. An EPC should be to hand before the property is marketed. It is not something that lawyers normally arrange. Where you are instructing a Islington conveyancing practitioner they may be willing to arrange EPC’s given their relationships with long established local assessors
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Lloyds. Islington conveyancing practitioners have been appointed. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Lloyds?
Some lenders take longer than others. Have Lloyds done the valuation? Have you informed Lloyds as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.
I have paid off my mortgage with TSB. I assume I don't need a Islington conveyancer on the TSB panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your TSB mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the TSB mortgage from the register. TSB, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where TSB has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- TSB has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Islington?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Islington. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Islington is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Islington are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Islington you must be sure that your lawyer goes 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 Islington 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 property.
Is planning consent necessary to convert a single dwelling into multiple flats in Islington? This has occurred to a house next door to a relative in Islington and was unaware of it happening until it was finished.
Planning permission is necessary for splitting a single house in Islington into apartments but probably not for converting back to single dwelling-house so, simply put, yes,a it is required.
