I am in the process of selling my flat in Seascale and Sellafield and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are swapping law firm. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a leading lender only work with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Seascale and Sellafield ?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in recent years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
My wife and I intend to remortgage our flat in Seascale and Sellafield with Lloyds. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Lloyds conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Lloyds 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 Lloyds. This is solely used to protect Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Seascale and Sellafield I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Seascale and Sellafield in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage that many years may be an issue. Reduce 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 twenty four months you can request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
We're FTB’s - agreed a price, yet the estate agent advised that the seller will only go ahead if we instruct the agent's recommended solicitors as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a family solicitor used to conveyancing in Seascale and Sellafield
We suspect that the owner is not behind this ultimatum. Should the owner desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a serious buyer is not the way to achieve this. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and make the point that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to use your preferred Seascale and Sellafield conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will give the estate agent a commission or hit his conveyancing targets pre-set by senior management.
Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Seascale and Sellafield from the perspective of expediting the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Seascale and Sellafield can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ conveyancers. If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Seascale and Sellafield home move. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later. If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled. Some Seascale and Sellafield leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly 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 buyers or their lawyers. If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Seascale and Sellafield leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.
Seascale and Sellafield Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying
-
What is the the remaining lease term? What is the name of the managing agents? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability?
I happen to be an executor of my recently deceased parent's Will, with a property in Seascale and Sellafield which will be sold. The bungalow has never been registered at HMLR and I'm told that some purchasers will insist that it is completed before they'll proceed. What's the procedure for this?
In the situation that you have set out it seems advisable to apply to register in the names of the personal representative(s) as named in the probate and in their capacity as PRs. The Land Registry’s online guidance explains how to register for the first time and what is required re the deeds and forms. You would need to include and certified copy of the probate as well and complete the form FR1 to refer to the PRs as the applicant.