My wife and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Ampthill with Co-operative. We have a son 19 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 forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 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 Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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 see that you have a search directory identifying law firms on the Principality conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Ampthill?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Principality conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Ampthill.
What does a local search reveal regarding the house we're buying in Ampthill?
Ampthill conveyancing often commences with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for instance Searchflow The local search plays an important role in most Ampthill conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your new home. The search will provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable 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 13 subject areas.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one close by in Ampthill I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in Ampthill suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
Do I stop the direct debit for my mortgage with Coventry BS as soon as a completion date for my home sale in Ampthill has been set?
You are best advised to continue meeting any mortgage sums to Coventry BS until the mortgage is redeemed out of the proceeds of sale as part of your Ampthill conveyancing.