My wife and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in East Croydon with Nationwide. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Nationwide conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing 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 Nationwide. This is solely used to protect Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.
It is a dozen years since I acquired my property in East Croydon. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I can't find the title deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be with your lender or they may stored with the conveyancers who oversaw the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in East Croydon involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it is more of a problem but is not insurmountable.
I have a decision in principle. The bank mentioned the loan came with free conveyancing. Does this mean I have to use their panel conveyancer as I would much rather use a specialised conveyancing solicitor in East Croydon?
Do check but the chances are that allocate you one of their panel lawyers if you accept the "fee-free" deal. Call the bank to see if they allow a monetary alternative. It is not unheard for a lender to give a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case you could put that amount towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor in East Croydon.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. East Croydon is the location of the property. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in East Croydon are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside East Croydon you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in East Croydon may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
As co-executor for the will of my uncle I am disposing of a property in Neath but I am based in East Croydon. My conveyancer (who is 235 kilometers from mehas requested that I execute a statutory declaration prior to the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in East Croydon who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are East Croydon based