My husband and I are looking to purchase a property in Cambridge and have appointed a Cambridge conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Alliance & Leicester have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Cambridge conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Cambridge lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My partner and I are refinancing our apartment in Cambridge with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 Bank of Ireland. This is solely used to protect Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Cambridge? Why is this being asked of me?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the ID of the person or body they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing business. The Client Care letter that you are required to sign should reaffirm this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. Where you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your solicitor will not be able to take you on as a client.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Cambridge?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Cambridge. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Cambridge with the purpose of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cambridge can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale. If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing. If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Cambridge home move. Where a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
I am the registered owner of a 1st floor flat in Cambridge, conveyancing having been completed 3 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Cambridge with a long lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2087
With just 62 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as costs.
The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.