Our solicitor has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are buying in Bagillt. The other side have put forward title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our property lawyer has advised that he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the lender are the client. Your lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
It is a dozen years since I acquired my home in Bagillt. Conveyancing lawyers have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate the deeds. Will this cause complications?
Don’t worry too much. First there is a possibility that the deeds will be retained by your lender or they may be archived with the solicitor who acted in the purchase. Secondly in all probability the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers procuring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Bagillt involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
If you had a top tip for choosing a conveyancing solicitor in Bagillt what would it be?
It would be unwise to be seduced by the lowest Bagillt conveyancing quote. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Aldermore. I assume I don't need a Bagillt conveyancer on the Aldermore panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Aldermore mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Aldermore mortgage from the register. Aldermore, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Aldermore has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Aldermore has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in Bagillt. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform HSBC?
HSBC must be informed of your intention prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact HSBC directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel lawyer.
Will commercial conveyancing searches disclose planned roadworks that may impact a commercial land in Bagillt?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Bagillt will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers invest in looking into accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Bagillt. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Bagillt.
For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Bagillt it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately may cause delays to Bagillt commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not carried out for residential conveyancing in Bagillt.
My wife and I may need to sub-let our Bagillt basement flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Bagillt conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
The lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Bagillt do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.
I own a basement flat in Bagillt, conveyancing having been completed 6 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable properties in Bagillt with a long lease are worth £175,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2082
With 58 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £23,800 and £27,400 plus professional fees.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.