We are acquiring a newly built flat in Otley and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the lender to disclose incentives from the builder. I am under pressure to sign contracts and my preference is not to delay matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My property lawyer in Otley has never been on on the Platform Home Loans Ltd Solicitor Panel. Can I still use my family solicitor even though they are excluded from the Platform Home Loans Ltd approved list?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Otley solicitors but Platform Home Loans Ltd will need to use a lawyer on their panel. This will result in additional total conveyancing charges as well as cause delays.
- Choose an alternative practitioner to to deal with the purchase, obviously checking they are Platform Home Loans Ltd approved.
- Persuade your Platform Home Loans Ltd based solicitor to seek to join the Platform Home Loans Ltd panel
I happen to be the single recipient of my late father’s will and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Otley. The Otley property was put into my name in November. I want to move. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership may be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in November. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. How practical a view lenders take of it, depend on the bank as this clause principally exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of property.
We previously selected conveyancing lawyers based in Otley on the Kent Reliance solicitor approved list. They have just invoiced me a separate sum for the legal aspects of the Kent Reliance mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Kent Reliance?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your lawyer is entitled to levy a fee for this. This fee is not set by Kent Reliance but by your Otley lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Kent Reliance panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Otley. My financial adviser suggested a lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Not long after, the solicitor contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Principality conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Principality panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I require quick conveyancing in Otley as I am faced with pressure to sign on the dotted line in less than one month. A home loan is not required. Is it possible to escape the need for conveyancing searches to save money and time?
If.Given you are not obtaining a home loan you have the choice not to have searches carried out although no conveyancer would advise that you don't. Drawing on our experience of conveyancing in Otley the following are instances of what can arise and adversely impact future mortgageability: Enforcement Notices, Overdue Charges, Outstanding Grants, Railway Schemes,...
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Otley I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Otley in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Otley with the purpose of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Otley can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors. You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. Some Otley leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Otley state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
Otley Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
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Can you tell me if there are any major works in the planning that will add a premium to the service costs? How much is the ground rent and service charge? The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy control and although a managing agent is usually employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.