My husband and I are acquiring a flat in Mortlake. My lawyer has never been on on the bank approved list. Am I still permitted to appoint my Mortlake conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank list of approved lawyers?
You have numerous choices open to you here
- Carry on with your preferred Mortlake conveyancing practitioner but your mortgage company will undoubtedly instruct a lawyer from their approved panel. This will result in additional fees and potential delay.
- Choose a new property lawyer to act in the purchase, making sure they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to do everything within their powers to join the mortgage company conveyancing panel
My partner and I swapping mortgage lender for our penthouse in Mortlake with Barclays. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Barclays 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 Barclays. This is solely used to protect Barclays 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 Barclays 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.
At what point will exchange of contracts occur in domestic conveyancing in Mortlake and do I need to be at the lawyers branch?
Where you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Mortlake you are invited in to sign documents. That being said, the law practices we recommend supply a countrywide conveyancing service and provide just as comprehensive and professional a job for you when dealing with you digitally. The executing of the contract is not the critical part. A signed contract is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts at the suitable time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is is usually a five minute process, although where a long "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Mortlake)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
My husband and I are FTB’s - agreed a price, yet the selling agent advised that the owners will only move forward if we instruct their chosen solicitors as they need a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a family solicitor used to conveyancing in Mortlake
It is unlikely the sellers are behind this. Should the vendor desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Contact the sellers directly and make the point that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to appoint your preferred Mortlake conveyancing firm - not the ones that will give the estate agent a commission or achieve conveyancing figures pre-set by senior management.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed flat in Mortlake. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, but I have recently received a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?
The sensible thing to do is clear the maintenance contribution as normal because all ground rent and service payments should be apportioned on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I own a first floor flat in Mortlake. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?
Where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to decide the price payable.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Mortlake premises is 19 St. Margarets Crescent in August 2010. the tribunal was of the view that the premium to be paid by the leaseholder for the freehold reversion was £51,983.00 This case related to 3 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 66.25 years.
Why do Mortlake conveyancing costs are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?
When buying a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control
