My partner and I are buying a newly built apartment in Skipton and my conveyancer is advising me that she has to the lender to disclose incentives from the seller. I am under pressure to sign contracts and my preference is not to prolong deal. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
My lender has suggested a law firm on their panel based in Skipton but I would rather use a conveyancing lawyer in Skipton or nearer to where I live. Are you able to help?
It is by no means the case that all Skipton conveyancing practices are on all banks conveyancing panel. Please make the most of our find an approved solicitor tool to find a Skipton conveyancing conveyancer on the on the bank panel.
I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to have this when purchasing a house in Skipton? or Apparently there is historic law that means some house owners living in a parish church boundary may be liable to contribute towards maintenance to the chancel within the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in Skipton?
Unless a previous acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you can assume that solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Skipton to remain encouraging a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Me and my brother have a renovated Victorian house in Skipton. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Yorkshire Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Skipton and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £245,000 and found one near me in Skipton I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Skipton suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I was pointed in your direction by two or three local property agents in Skipton to get a quote from a property lawyer using your seach tool. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any referral fee for directing people in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.