My fiance and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Willenhall with Skipton. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 Skipton. This is solely used to protect Skipton 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 Skipton 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.
I just acquired a property at auction in Willenhall. Conveyancing is required. What happens now?
Given that you are now legally committed yourself to purchase you should choose a conveyancing practitioner soon as you now have a tight deadline in which to complete the deal. All auction property will have an associated auction pack. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. Where you are dealing with leasehold property the conveyancing pack should provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation pertinent to leasehold premises. You need to give this to the conveyancer instructed by you at the earliest opportunity. Do make sure that your finances are in place to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
is it true that all Willenhall solicitor practices on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of banks do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the firms would be governed by the CLC.
I can not work out if my lender requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Willenhall building society branch on a couple of occasions and was told it does not affect the mortgage offer and they would lend. My Willenhall conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- telephoned to say that they will not lend in accordance with their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?
Provided that the lawyer is on the bank approved list, they must comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook specifications for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
The deeds to my house can not be found. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Willenhall 10 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?
Assuming the title is registered the details of your proprietorship will be recorded by HMLR under a Title Number. It is possible to conduct a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and obtain up to date copies of the property title for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a file copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I'm buying my first flat in Willenhall with a loan from Virgin Money. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not reveal to my conveyancer about the extras as it will adversely affect my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.
Taking into account that I am about to spend 450k on a property in Willenhall I would like to have a conversation with the lawyer concerning theconveyancing ahead of instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
Absolutely - we would be happy to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the lawyer due to be carrying out your property ownership legalities in Willenhall.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique individual, not a file number. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are provided with for residential conveyancing in Willenhall should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.
My son is embarking on her first house purchase, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. When the offer was accepted on house we contacted the lender to progress the mortgage application. I was disappointed to learn that mortgage companies do not accept all property lawyer, they have to be on a list, is this legal?
Lenders tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Willenhall solicitor on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.