Me and my partner are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in St Mary Cray with a mortgage. We would like to retain our St Mary Cray solicitor, but the bank advise she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or keep our St Mary Cray lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. We regard this is unjust; are we not able to require that the bank use our St Mary Cray property lawyer ?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose 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. Another option that might be available is for your St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our flat in St Mary Cray with Principality. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. 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 two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Principality conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up 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.
Are the St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Principality conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Principality?
St Mary Cray conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Principality directly.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in St Mary Cray I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in St Mary Cray suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be problematic. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for purchase conveyancing in St Mary Cray. I've stumble upon a web site which appears to be the ideal offering If it is possible to get all formalities done via phone that would be preferable. Should I be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our St Mary Cray basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Notwithstanding that your previous St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without prior permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?
Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Mary Cray premises is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 50.57 years.