My aunt passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Towcester. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Virgin Money, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
If you plan to re-mortgage then Virgin Money will require that you use a conveyancer on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Virgin Money conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Virgin Money mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
We had selected conveyancers locally in Towcester on the Principality solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further fee for handling the Principality mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Principality?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or Quote then yes your lawyer can charge a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Principality but by your Towcester lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Principality panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I am purchasing a property in Towcester. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Co-operative have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is Co-operative your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Co-operative. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook contains minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Co-operative where a lease does not satisfy these requirements. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not limited to Towcester.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Towcester. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A couple of days later, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Leeds Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I purchased a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Towcester. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Britannia. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 Towcester and other areas of 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 buyers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.
I am buying my first flat in Towcester with a mortgage from Accord Mortgages Ltd. The builders refused to move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The sale representative told me not inform my lawyer about this deal as it would put at risk my mortgage with Accord Mortgages Ltd. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Towcester ahead of retaining conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to issue a mortgage on such a home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions from Halifax. If you call us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Towcester. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Towcester to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I am 17 days into a leasehold purchase having been directed to a firm by the estate agent to perform conveyancing in Towcester. We are not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
They would need to be very bad to suggest changing them. Has the mortgage offer been issued? If so you need to make them aware of the replacement lawyer and have the loan are re-issued. Your new solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid supplemental expenses and delays. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The search tool will help you find a lender approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in Towcester