My partner and I are hoping to buy a home in Coven and are in fact using a Coven conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Coven solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Quality 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Coven 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 grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Coven. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Skipton, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you plan to re-mortgage then Skipton will require that you use a conveyancer on the Skipton 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 Skipton 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 Skipton mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of obstruction in Coven conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the most frequent causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Coven.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Coven I like with a park and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Coven suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
Should you need a home loan that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
In what way does the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my commercial offices in Coven and how can you help?
The 1954 Act provides security of tenure to business lessees, granting the legal entitlement to make a request to court for a renewal lease and continue in occupation when the lease reaches an end. There are certain specified grounds that a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. Coven is one of our numerous locations in which the firms we work with are based