Our grandson is about to exchange on a new build apartment in St Agnes with a mortgage from Barclays. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Barclays conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Barclays conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
What will a local search inform me about the house I am buying in St Agnes?
St Agnes conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations such as PSG The local search is essential in every St Agnes conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your new home. The search will reveal data 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 thirteen subject sections.
The deeds to my house are lost. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in St Agnes 4 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?
These day there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your conveyancer should be aware precisely where to find all the suitable documentation so you can purchase or sell your house without any difficulty. If duplicates can’t be found, your lawyer may be able to arrange cover in the form of insurance or indemnities against future claims on the property.
How does conveyancing in St Agnes differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in St Agnes contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because developers in St Agnes usually purchase the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in St Agnes or who has acted in the same development.
I opted to have a survey completed on a house in St Agnes in advance of appointing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor has said that some lenders may refuse to issue a loan on a flying freehold property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Halifax. If you contact us we can look into this further via the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in St Agnes. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in St Agnes to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
Last April I purchased a leasehold property in St Agnes. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?
Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
St Agnes Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying
-
Most St Agnes leasehold flats will have a service bill for maintenance of the building set by the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to pay this charge, usually quarterly throughout the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. It would be wise to find out as much as possible regarding the company managing the block as they will either make your living at the property much easier or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to daily issues like the upkeep of the communal areas. Ask other tenants what they think of their management. On a final note, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the appropriate party and precisely how they are spending that money. The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually employed if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.