My wife and I are looking to buy a flat in Ongar and are in fact using a Ongar conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Coventry Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Ongar conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ongar solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I happen to be the single recipient of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Ongar. The Ongar property was put into my name in December. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership could be treated the same way as if I'd bought the house in December. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?
The CML handbook obliges 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 might be affected by that. Some mortgage companies would take a pragmatic view as this clause primarily exists to identify subsales or the quick reselling of properties.
I am buying a property in Ongar. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Principality have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As you are obtaining a mortgage with Principality your lawyer must comply with the formal instructions contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Principality. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Principality where a lease fails to comply with these conditions. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not restricted to Ongar.
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Ongar. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I'm buying a new build house in Ongar benefiting from help to buy. The sellers would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could impact my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.
Should I choose a Ongar conveyancing solicitor based in the location that I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can perform the legal work but they are based 400kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a high street Ongar conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign paperwork, deliver your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unfamiliar Ongar conveyancing lawyer just because they are Ongar based.
My husband and I may need to let out our Ongar 1st floor flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Ongar conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?
Your lease governs relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Ongar do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.
I purchased a split level flat in Ongar, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Ongar with over 90 years remaining are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2095
With 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as 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 comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.