My wife and I are purchasing residence in Monken Hadley. My property lawyer is not on the bank conveyancing panel. Am I still permitted to retain my Monken Hadley conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the bank panel?
You have a number of alternatives open to you here
- Carry on with your existing Monken Hadley solicitor but your lender will no doubt instruct a lawyer from their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional charges together with potential interruption.
- Appoint a new property lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your lawyer to attempt to join the bank panel
I am about to put an offer on a leasehold flat in Monken Hadley. The selling agents advise that it is usual for flats in Monken Hadley to have less than 75 years unexpired on the lease. I am taking out a loan with Nationwide Building Society. Will the property be mortgageable given that the lease has 72 years to go.
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Nationwide Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 2/10/2022 the requirements read as follows :
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).
Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:
Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.
SECOND HAND PROPERTIES
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 55 years
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period is less than or equal to 5 years
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 55 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial, etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 0.5% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI
NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined)
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 0.5% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn Ground Rent (Annual Rent) charges
For the avoidance of doubt, any New Build properties completed but not sold pre-30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the Lease conforms to the above guidance.
* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years.
Lease Extensions
We require all Lease Extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to Issuing Office.
I had a mortgage agreed in principle with Santander. Monken Hadley conveyancing practitioners were instructed. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Santander?
There is no definitive answer here. Have Santander conducted the valuation? Have you advised Santander as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Santander conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.
I am expecting a AIP from Yorkshire BS this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Yorkshire BS recommend any Monken Hadley solicitors on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Monken Hadley solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Yorkshire BS through the process.
My offer was accepted on a house in Monken Hadley on 10/8/2022, valuation was booked five days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to RBS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the RBS conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for RBS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the RBS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Do I need to pay for insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when purchasing a property in Monken Hadley?
Unless a prior acquisition of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect solicitors delivering conveyancing in Monken Hadley to continue to suggest a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Monken Hadley is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Monken Hadley are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Monken Hadley you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Monken Hadley 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.
We own a leasehold flat in Monken Hadley. Conveyancing was finalised in last year. I have been told that I mustn’t allow the lease length get too short. Why is that a problem?
Monken Hadley domestic long term leases are for a set term - normally ninety nine years when they started. However a significant appartments in Monken Hadley were built or converted 30 or more years ago and so these leases now have under eighty years unexpired. This may seem like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders on the whole need leases to have at least 75 years left to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are approaching 75 years. To enhance your property value you should be thinking about whether to extend your lease long before you come to sell it. Furthermore significant benefits to taking action before the lease reaches even 80 years as when the lease is below eighty years the premium to be paid to extend starts to escalate.