My fiance and I are looking to acquire a house in Caerwys and have instructed a Caerwys conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. National Westminster Bank have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Caerwys lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Caerwys solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I are refinancing our apartment in Caerwys with RBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the RBS conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights 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 RBS. This is solely used to protect RBS 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 RBS 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.
How does conveyancing in Caerwys differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Caerwys approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is built. This is because builders in Caerwys typically buy the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Caerwys or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and identified one round the corner in Caerwys I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Caerwys in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
Is it possible to switch firm as I need to find one who is on the Nationwide Building Society conveyancing list. I instructed a family conveyancing solicitor in Caerwys round the corner but she is not approved by Nationwide Building Society
It would be our pleasure to help you select a conveyancing solicitor in Caerwys on the Nationwide Building Society panel. Please note that the solicitors that we work with do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Caerwys. Using the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this website, you can contrast costs for conveyancing solicitors in Caerwys and beyond.