My husband and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Shoreditch with Principality. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Principality conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement 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 Principality. This is solely used to protect Principality 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 Principality 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.
My fiance and I wish to acquire a newly converted apartment in Shoreditch with a homeloan from Barclays Direct.We use our Shoreditch conveyancing lawyer but Barclays Direct informed us his firm is not on their "panel". We have to appoint a Barclays Direct panel lawyer or keep our local solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you contains terms and conditions, a common one being that lawyers must be on the Barclays Direct solicitor panel. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Barclays Direct
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Shoreditch. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Shoreditch
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The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.
I have been recommended by a number of property agents in Shoreditch to get a quote from a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to promote your services over and above a competitor’s?
We refuse to give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
In surfing the web for the term cheap conveyancing in Shoreditch it brings up numerous property lawyersin the area. With so much choice what is the best way to find the right property lawyer for the sale of my house?
The ideal method of choosing a suitable conveyancer is through a personal referral, so enquire of colleagues and family who have bought a property in Shoreditch or a reputable estate agent or mortgage broker. Costs for conveyancing in Shoreditch differ, so it's a good idea to request a minimum of four quotes from varying types of solicitors. Dont forget to clarify what costs in the quote includes.
Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Shoreditch garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Shoreditch conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?
Some leases for properties in Shoreditch do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.
We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Shoreditch. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Shoreditch conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Shoreditch property is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 72.39 years.