My husband and I are hoping to acquire a house in Bridgnorth and have instructed a Bridgnorth conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Britannia have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Bridgnorth lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Bridgnorth lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My Solicitor in Bridgnorth has never been on on the Alliance & Leicester Conveyancing Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the Alliance & Leicester panel?
Your options are as follows:
- Carry on with your preferred Bridgnorth lawyers but Alliance & Leicester will need to retain a lawyer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the overall conveyancing charges as well as cause frustration.
- Find a new practitioner to to deal with the conveyancing, not forgetting to check they are on the Alliance & Leicester panel
I'm the single recipient of my late grandmother’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Bridgnorth. The Bridgnorth property was put into my name in July. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship could be considered the same way as though I had purchased the house in July. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be caught by that. many mortgage companies would take a pragmatic view as this requirement chiefly exists to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.
We are getting the release of further monies on our mortgage from Santander as we intend to carry out a loft conversion to our property in Bridgnorth. Are we obliged to appoint a local Bridgnorth solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Santander don't usually appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Santander list.
The mortgage over my property is with Clydesdale for my property in Bridgnorth. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Your original mortgage agreement with Clydesdale will provide that you need their approval in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel lawyer.
My partner and I are downsizing from our home in Bridgnorth and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers used an online conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Bridgnorth. Having lived in Bridgnorth for many years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain clarification need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same ailment)
I am purchasing my first flat in Bridgnorth benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent told me not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could impact my loan with HSBC Bank. 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.
I would like to rent out my leasehold apartment in Bridgnorth. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?
A small minority of properties in Bridgnorth do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.
I bought a studio flat in Bridgnorth, conveyancing having been completed in 1996. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Bridgnorth with an extended lease are worth £265,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2102
With 76 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus professional fees.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.