My partner and I are purchasing a ground floor flat in Minera. My Solicitor is not on the bank approved list. Can I still continue with my Minera conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the lender panel?
Various options include
- Complete the purchase with your existing Minera conveyancing practitioner but your bank will need to appoint a lawyer on their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional fees together with potential delay.
- Appoint a new conveyancing practitioner to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
- Convince your property lawyer to seek to join the lender panel
My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Minera with Skipton. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 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 property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Skipton 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 Skipton. This is solely used to protect Skipton 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 Skipton 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 fiance and I wish to acquire a purpose built apartment in Minera with a homeloan from Skipton Building Society.We like our Minera conveyancing solicitor but Skipton Building Society informed us he's not listed on their approved list of firms. we are left little option but to use a Skipton Building Society panel firm or keep our local solicitor and pay for a Skipton Building Society panel lawyer to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The home loan offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that conveyancers needs to be on the Skipton Building Society conveyancing panel. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Skipton Building Society
How does conveyancing in Minera differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Minera approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Minera tend to acquire 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 Minera or who has acted in the same development.
My husband and I are FTB’s - had an offer accepted, yet the estate agent has warned us that the seller will only issue a contract if we use their chosen conveyancers as they need a ‘quick sale’. We would rather use a family solicitor who is familiar with conveyancing in Minera
We suspect that the seller is not behind this ultimatum. Should the seller require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Bypass the agents and go straight to the sellers and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you are going to appoint your own,trusted Minera conveyancing firm - not the ones that will earn the negotiator at the agency a commission or achieve conveyancing targets demanded by head office.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Minera conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Minera conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggest that you speak with two or three firms including non Minera conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be helpful:
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Can they put you in touch with clients in Minera who can give a testimonial?
I inherited a ground floor flat in Minera, conveyancing formalities finalised November 2008. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Minera with a long lease are worth £180,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2085
With 59 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £20,900 and £24,200 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.