Category: Property

Why Do You Need Conveyancing When Remortgaging?

Post author By VOiD
Post date 18th December 2019
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Conveyancing when remortgaging - BES Legal LTD

Remortgaging is when you change the mortgage on your property by moving to a new lender. Whether you are looking for a better mortgage deal, you want to refurbish your home, you have other debts to pay off, or your financial circumstances have otherwise changed, we can provide clear, practical advice about the best way to proceed, deal with your bank, building society, or mortgage provider on your behalf, and take the necessary steps towards getting your remortgage finalised.

Our experienced conveyancing team will guide you through the process. Our remortgage solicitors have helped thousands of people remortgage and aim to make the conveyancing process as simple and stress-free as possible.

By using BES Legal Ltd for this process, you have the peace on mind that all the details will be accounted for, protecting you legally and financially, while ensuring the remortgage goes ahead quickly and smoothly.

What Is Involved In Conveyancing For Remortgaging?

There are various steps involved in the remortgaging process that our experienced team of conveyancers take care of for you.

Checks and searches – This includes verifying your identity, money laundering checks, checking the title deed and property searches e.g. checking for any planning, building control or environmental issues affecting your property. Your new mortgage lender will need to see evidence of these checks before releasing funds to you.

Redemption statement – Your conveyancer will give your existing mortgage lender notice that you intend to pay off the outstanding balance on your mortgage and ask for a redemption statement, which details how much you owe, plus any penalties, exit fees or other costs for early repayment.

Reviewing your mortgage offer – When your new mortgage lender has carried out a valuation of your property, they will make a formal remortgage offer and send a copy of this to both you and your conveyancer. Your conveyancer will talk through the details of this offer with you to make sure you are entirely clear what you are agreeing to.

Transfer of funds – When your new mortgage lender is ready to transfer funds, these will be sent to your conveyancer. They will then use the funds to pay off your old mortgage and any fees, then deposit any balance left over into your nominated account.

Land Registry – Once your old mortgage lender confirms that your previous mortgage is paid off, your conveyancer will contact the Land Registry and have them update the title deed for your property with details of your new lender.

Conveyancing For Leasehold Property Remortgages

The conveyancing process for remortgaging a leasehold property involves a few additional steps which your conveyancer will assist you with.

Firstly, they will need to check that the length of time remaining on the lease meets your new mortgage lender’s requirements. Many lenders will be reluctant to offer a mortgage on a leasehold property with 80 years or fewer left on the lease.

Your conveyancer will also need to collect details of your service charges and ground rent from your landlord or their agent, as well as a copy of the property’s buildings insurance documents.

You will also need to provide a copy of your lease (which you should have) to your new mortgage lender. If you do not have a copy of your lease, your conveyancer can request one from the Land Registry.

How Long Does A Remortgage Take?

A remortgage can take a matter of weeks to complete once you have a mortgage offer. The delay normally relates to the time it takes to get your mortgage offer (remember a mortgage in principle isn’t a mortgage offer and you’ll still need to get a mortgage valuation). If your property is a leasehold, there can also be delays with the freeholders providing notice after completion, especially if you haven’t paid your service charges and ground rent.

BES Legal Ltd have extensive experience working with banks, building societies and other specialist mortgage lenders, so we know how they work. Above all we aim to make your remortgage stress-free, without the legal jargon and working to your timescales. To find out how BES Legal Ltd could help with your remortgage conveyancing, please get in touch with our experienced team by calling 0330 124 7474 or emailing enquiries@beslegal.co.uk.

The purpose of this blog is to provide information and discussion. Nothing on this blog should be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified solicitor regarding any actual legal issue or dispute. Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a solicitor-client relationship. Please note that we cannot give advice on individual’s situations or problems on this blog.

Tags Conveyancing, conveyancing property, moving house, property

Property

Top tips if you’re buying a property with a friend or partner

Post author By VOiD
Post date 6th November 2019
No Comments on Top tips if you’re buying a property with a friend or partner

Buying Property with a Friend or Partner - BES Legal LTD

For many people, buying a property with a friend, group of friends or partner is the only option because of property prices, tight lending restrictions and the need for a large deposit. If you are going into a mortgage jointly, make sure you are both aware of your rights and obligations.

Types of Ownership

You can own property as either ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’. The type of ownership affects what you can do with the property if your relationship with a joint owner breaks down, or if one owner dies.

As joint tenants, you have equal rights to the whole property and the property is automatically passed to the other owners if you die. This means individual owners can’t pass what they consider ‘their share’ of the property to a beneficiary in their will. Joint tenants must act as one in the eyes of the law. For example, individual tenants would not have the option of only mortgaging their share of the property. All of the tenants have to take out a joint mortgage.

As tenants in common, you can own different shares of the property and the property does not automatically go to the other owners if you die. Owners can pass ‘their share’ of the property to a beneficiary in their will or the rule of intestacy can apply. Up to 4 people can jointly be registered as tenants in common for an individual property. This is a popular choice for friends or relatives who are buying together.

Joint owners have a legal right to stay in their home unless a court order rules otherwise. If one of the owners wants to sell the property or take a loan out against its value all of the owners have to give their consent, unless a court order rules otherwise.

How can I protect the money I put in?

You may wish to have a Declaration of Trust drawn up when purchasing a property to reflect that one of you holds a greater interest in the property over the other, such as where one party has put a greater deposit down or intends to contribute more towards the mortgage. Creating this declaration of trust when purchasing is important when the property is sold as it ensures that each homeowner gets a fair portion of what they put into the property.

What happens if I’m a joint tenant or a tenant in common and the other tenants stop meeting the mortgage payments?

A mortgage lender will always insist that borrowers are ‘jointly and severally’ liable. This means that if one of you stops paying his or her part of the mortgage the other (or others) will have to pay the full amount.

Who must pay off the mortgage if you decide to go your separate ways?

A cohabitation agreement can specify who should contribute what, including what proportion should be paid towards the mortgage. This can provide certainty to the individuals about where they stand in the event of a relationship breakdown. There is a common misconception that a cohabitation agreement, much like a prenuptial agreement, is legally binding. This is not the case, at least not in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Whilst they are lawful, they are governed by the ordinary rule of a contract which means the individual terms or agreement can be challenged in court.

If you jointly own your home, you have several options about what to do with it when you separate. You might decide to:

Sell the home and both of you move out. You could use the money you’ve raised to put towards buying another home for each of you if you can afford to do this.
Arrange for one of you to buy the other out.
Keep the home and not change who owns it. One partner could continue to live in it, perhaps until your children are 18 or leave school.
Transfer part of the value of the property from one partner to the other so that your children have somewhere to live. The partner who gave up a share of their ownership rights would keep a stake or ‘interest’ in the home. This means that when it is sold he or she will receive a percentage of its value.

If you would like to discuss jointly purchasing a property in further detail, please contact the team via our main switchboard number 0330 124 7474 or alternatively email enquiries@beslegal.co.uk

Moving House Property

The Conveyancing Process – Buying and Selling

Post author By VOiD
Post date 3rd July 2019
No Comments on The Conveyancing Process – Buying and Selling

The Conveyancing process - BES Legal LTD

The process of moving home can seem complex and stressful. We have created these straightforward guides to help you understand the process of buying and/or selling, and prepare you for your future property transaction.

The Conveyancing Selling Process

You can also download a PDF copy here.

The Conveyancing Buying Process

You can also download a PDF copy here.

Tags Conveyancing, conveyancing property, property

Moving House Property

Gifted Deposits and How It Can Affect You.

Post author By VOiD
Post date 19th June 2019
No Comments on Gifted Deposits and How It Can Affect You.

Gifted Deposit - BES Legal LTD

A gifted deposit is any amount that somebody (usually the bank of Mum or Dad) gives a home buyer towards their deposit or gifts them the entire deposit.

More and more people are relying on gifted deposits to get a mortgage, but what does this mean for you?

Here at BES Legal Limited, we ask for proof of funds covering three months to see where the deposit is coming from and to ensure that this amount has been in your account for at least three months. During these three months, if we see that any significant amounts have gone into your account then we ask for a trail to be seen such as bank statements to show that an amount has been transferred from your savings account into your main account.

However, if this amount is a gift from anyone else then please note that Anti-Money Laundering laws require us to do the following:

A signed statement will be obtained from the gift donor: The purpose of this statement is to ensure that this amount is a non-repayable gift and the person has no interest in the property. This is directly sent to the gift donor once you provide us with their contact details.

A Bankruptcy Search will be carried on the gift donor: This will be done on completion and then £2.00 will be added to your bill.

Obtain certified photographic ID and proof of address from the gift donor.

An ID check on the gift donor: This will be £10.00 plus VAT and be completed as soon as the ID is received.

Obtain a source of funds: This must show that the gift amount has been in their account for at least 3 months, if not then we must see a trail of where it came from.

At BES Legal Limited, for gifted deposits, there is a cost of £50.00 plus VAT for doing all the above work.

Different lenders have their own rules and requirements regarding the gifted deposit. We report this gift to the lender and ask them to confirm whether they are happy to proceed with the purchase. Some lenders also require their own statements to be completed by the gift donor. Therefore, if you are getting a gift towards your purchase please let us know as soon as possible so that we may carry out the above steps and allow the lender time to respond back to us in time for your transaction to not be delayed.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our conveyancing department on 0330 124 7474 or send us an email.

Tags Gifted Deposits, moving house, property

Property

Stamp Duty cut for shared ownership buyers in 2018 Budget

Post author By VOiD
Post date 5th June 2019
No Comments on Stamp Duty cut for shared ownership buyers in 2018 Budget

Last October, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to correct an anomaly from his previous Budget by cutting Stamp Duty for first-time buyers of shared ownership properties worth up to £500,000. It was also announced by the Chancellor that the relief will be applied retrospectively from his previous Budget (November 2017) to shared ownership properties bought in England and Northern Ireland.

Shared ownership schemes are a cross between buying and renting; aimed mainly at first-time buyers. Shared ownership schemes are aimed at people who don’t earn enough to buy a home outright, allowing a buyer to purchase between a quarter and three-quarters of a property.

In the 2017 budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond raised the 0% Stamp Duty threshold to £300,000 from £125,000 in order to help first-time buyers. To qualify for the Stamp Duty exemption given in the 2017 budget to first-time buyers of homes priced up to £300,000, buyers of a shared ownership property had to elect to be taxed on the full market value of the home (up to £500,000) rather than just on the share they were buying. If the full market value of the shared-ownership property was more than £500,000, the buyer would not have been eligible for any Stamp Duty relief at all. Alternatively, buyers could elect to use their first-time buyer exemption on the first share of the property they bought but would have had to pay full rate Stamp Duty on all further shares bought, regardless if the sum of all payments was less than £300,000.

The update to the 2018 budget for first-time buyers purchasing shared ownership homes is a welcomed move and is even better news that this change has been backdated to November 2017.

For further information and advice, please contact our teams in Coventry, Great Barr Birmingham, Elstree, Sussex and Walsall.

Tags budget 2018, Stamp duty

Property

Radon Gas: What is Radon Gas and how does it affect you?

Post author By VOiD
Post date 22nd May 2019
No Comments on Radon Gas: What is Radon Gas and how does it affect you?

Countless homeowners may be completely unaware that their area is affected by Radon gas. The first time that many people hear about Radon is if they are planning to buy or sell a home and it is located in a designated radon affected area.

This guide is intended to help you understand Radon gas and the potential risks it might have if you end up living in a designated radon affected area, sometimes known as a Radon gas postcode.

What is Radon Gas?

Radon gas is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which is colourless and odourless, therefore it cannot be detected without specialist Radon testing equipment. Radon gas is formed by the radioactive decay of the small amounts of uranium that occur naturally in all rocks and soils. As this element decays, Radon gas is formed, which then rises to the surface. It is always at safe levels outdoors, however, it can be at dangerously high levels in buildings, depending on the part of the country, and the type of ground the building is on. For instance, levels may be higher in parts of the country rich in granite, such as Dartmoor in Devon and Cornwall. Many parts of Sussex, such as Shoreham-by-Sea, Hove and Brighton, also have higher levels of Radon gas as properties are built into hillsides. These properties are automatically at higher risk of radon as there are extra surfaces in contact with the ground through which the gas can permeate into the building.

How can Radon gas affect your health?

If high levels of Radon gas are breathed in over a long period of time, this exposure can lead to damage to the sensitive cells of our lungs which increases the risk of lung cancer. Radon causes about 1,000 lung cancer deaths in the UK every year.

Property Searches Flagging Radon Gas

Property searches are one of the key parts of the conveyancing process. When buying a property, your solicitor will carry out property searches to find out more information about the property and, crucially, what the area around it also looks like. The main searches when purchasing a property are:

Local authority search (LAS): This search is requested by your mortgage lender and applied for by a solicitor once you have made an offer on a property. It consists of several smaller search and requests information on any nearby contaminations, road schemes or planning works along with a number of other searches.
Drainage and water search: This search will reveal exactly where all drainage systems are around a property and show if these are at risk of affecting the property in the future. The search will reveal if any planning restrictions are in place relating to drains.
Environmental search: This search will cover you for any environmental issues within 500 metres of the property. An environmental search looks at everything from flood risk, Radon gas, to subsidence and is carried out by a company that maintains detailed information about previous land uses within the vicinity of a property.

Buying a House in a High-Risk Radon Area?

If the property search reports show that the property you looking to purchase is in a radon affected area, don’t panic! A large part of Great Britain is considered to be in a Radon gas-affected area but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t be buying your house there. Just like you would be cautious if a structural report came back with some warning signs, if a Radon gas risk report comes back high it simply means that you have been made aware of any potential risks and which you should try to resolve before continuing any further.

It is recommended that you ask the vendor whether any Radon testing has been carried out within the property and if so, request to see a copy of the results report. If testing has not been carried out, it would be a sensible precaution to arrange for the property to be tested. Testing for radon is simple and inexpensive. It involves placing small Radon testing devices in the home for at least ten days. This will ensure that an accurate reading is gathered. Radon is measured in units called becquerels, and these are calculated per cubic metre. A level below 100 Bq/m³ is considered low risk, and the UK average is far below this at 20 Bq/m³.

If the results show that there are dangerous levels of radon in the property, there are actions you can take to lower them to within the safe limits. High levels of radon can be reduced by carrying out remedial works to the property. The two most common methods are either the installation of a positive pressure fan inside the property or the excavation of a small hole beneath the property (called a radon sump) that is connected to an exhaust pipe and fan on the outside of the building. Every property is individual and so the remediation system needs to be designed for that particular property and then cost by a specialist.

If you are thinking of selling, re-mortgaging or buying a property, contact our specialist conveyancing departments today in Coventry,Great Barr Birmingham, Elstree, Sussex, And Walsall.

Tags Radon Gas