My husband and I are planning to acquire a home in Kidlington and have instructed a Kidlington conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Ireland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Kidlington solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Kidlington solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My uncle passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Kidlington. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to HSBC, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
If you plan to re-mortgage then HSBC will insist on your using a conveyancer on the HSBC 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 HSBC 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 HSBC mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
is it true that all Kidlington conveyancing solicitors on the Santander conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Santander conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Some banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the CLC.
We are getting the release of further monies on our mortgage from Skipton as we want to carry out a loft conversion to our property in Kidlington. Are we obliged to appoint a local Kidlington solicitor on the Skipton conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Skipton don't usually appoint firms on 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 Skipton list.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Kidlington. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Santander be concerned?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Santander your lawyer must check the formal requirements set out in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Santander. The CML Handbook sets out minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Santander where a lease does not meet these requirements. The specifications relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not isolated to Kidlington.
The deeds to my home are lost. The conveyancers who dealt with the conveyancing in Kidlington 4 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?
As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be held by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and secure current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.
Am I right to be concerned about brokers that I am dealing with are suggesting an online conveyancing firm rather than a local Kidlington conveyancing company?
As is the case with many service providers, often suggestions from connections can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are many parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders may suggest solicitors to select. On occasion the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but sometimes there exists a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You have the right to select your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that many banks operate an approved list of law firms you are obliged to use for the mortgage related work in your home move.
Back In 2007, I bought a leasehold house in Kidlington. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Kidlington who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Kidlington conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.
I purchased a 2 bed flat in Kidlington, conveyancing having been completed in 2012. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Kidlington with an extended lease are worth £190,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2088
With 62 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £17,100 and £19,800 plus costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.