My husband and I are refinancing our penthouse in Wirral with RBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the RBS conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 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.
My property lawyer in Wirral is not on the Platform Home Loans Ltd Approved Panel. Is it possible for me to continue with my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Platform Home Loans Ltd list of approved lawyers?
Your options are as follows:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Wirral lawyers but Platform Home Loans Ltd will need to instruct a solicitor on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the overall conveyancing charges as well as result in delays.
- Choose a new solicitor to to deal with the purchase, obviously checking they are Persuade your conveyancer to do everything within their powers to join the Platform Home Loans Ltd conveyancing panel
My conveyancer has informed me that flying freehold insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Wirral conveyancing?
The appropriate level of flying freehold indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between HSBC Bank and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
We had instructed conveyancers with offices in Wirral on the Skipton solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate amount for handling the Skipton mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Skipton?
As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your conveyancer is entitled to levy a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by Skipton but by your Wirral solicitor. Some firms on the Skipton panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
It is unclear whether my bank requires a lease extension. I have telephoned my Wirral building society branch on various occasions and was told it does not impact the mortgage offer and they will lend. My Wirral conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they refuse to lend based on their specific requirements. Who do I believe?
Your lawyer must comply with the CML Handbook section two requirements for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.
I know that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to have this when acquiring a residence in Wirral? or Apparently there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that owners of property living in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for repairs towards the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Wirral?
Unless a previous acquisition of the premises took place after 12 October 2013 you could assume that solicitors delivering conveyancing in Wirral to continue to advocate a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.
I am buying a new build house in Wirral with a loan from Platform Home Loans Ltd. The sellers refused to budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The estate agent told me not disclose to my conveyancer about the deal as it will affect my mortgage with Platform Home Loans Ltd. 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.