My partner and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in North Finchley with HSBC. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the HSBC 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 HSBC 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 HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC 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 HSBC 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.
What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in North Finchley
There are many registered licenced Conveyancers in North Finchley and Solicitor practices in North Finchley who provide Conveyancing services We would stress that the two are supervised by regulatory bodies with both specialising in the legal work in transferring property. The two can conduct associated property related work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
is it true that all North Finchley solicitors on the Santander conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Santander approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. The majority of lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be governed by the CLC.
I currently have a mortgage with Nationwide for my property in North Finchley. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Nationwide?
You must advise Nationwide prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Nationwide will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nationwide directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor.
What will a local search reveal concerning the property my wife and I buying in North Finchley?
North Finchley conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for example PSG The local search plays a central part in many a North Finchley conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your new home. The search should reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic headings.
The deeds to my house are lost. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in North Finchley 4 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?
As long as you have a registered title the details of your ownership will be documented by HMLR with a Title Number. It is possible to execute a search at the Land Registry, identify your house and get current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.
I'm purchasing my first flat in North Finchley with a loan from Santander. The builders refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not to tell my solicitor about the extras as it will affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have since found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in North Finchley. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in North Finchley ?
The majority of houses in North Finchley are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in North Finchley so you should seriously consider shopping around for a North Finchley conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.
I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a North Finchley conveyancing firm to assist?
You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a North Finchley conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a North Finchley residence is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 76 years.