Much to our surprise we have been advised by our mortgage adviser that my St James solicitor is not on the lender Solicitor panel. What can I do to be sure that this is correct?
The first thing you need to do is to contact your St James lawyer directly. You lawyer should notify you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the approved list of lawyers for your lender.
My wife and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in St James with Virgin Money. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. 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 questions (1) Is this document specific to the Virgin Money conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money. This is solely used to protect Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in St James for our house purchase. Our broker has since advised us that our bank Birmingham Midshires won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
A lender may insist on a panel solicitor act for it. Borrowers are liable to bear the cost of this. Do use our database to get a quote from a solicitor to carry conveyancing in St James on the Birmingham Midshires member panel.
I am helping my step-mother sell her flat in St James. Does the solicitor commission an energy assessment or it is for the owner to coordinate?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates became a required element of selling a property. An EPC must be to hand in advance of the property being marketed. This is not as aspect of the sale process that law firms normally organise. If you are using a St James conveyancing lawyer they might be willing to arrange energy assessments due to their contacts with long established St James assessors
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a two bedroom flat in St James. Do I receive the keys to the premises on completion from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in St James?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be able to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.
I am expecting a DIP from Nottingham this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Nottingham recommend any St James solicitors on the Nottingham conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?
You will need to appoint St James solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Nottingham through the process.
Me and my brother own a semi-detached Victorian house in St James. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and TSB. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in St James and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
Following years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St James. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St James flat is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 56 years.
Are there frequently found problems that you come across in leases for St James properties?
Leasehold conveyancing in St James is not unique. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:
-
Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts. Insurance obligations
You will have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Nationwide Building Society, The Mortgage Works, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.