Property solicitor Martin Whitehorn
Solicitor Martin Whitehorn highlights a few key considerations for 7 of the New Year’s resolutions that homeowners may be making for 2023.
1. Remortgaging
If you are adding another person to your mortgage, the mortgage lender will normally require that the other person become a joint owner. However, transferring mortgaged property into joint names has stamp duty land tax implications.
There are two ways to effect such transfers into joint names: one is tax efficient, the other is not. It is not your mortgage lender’s responsibility to advise you on this so be sure to use a specialist property solicitor to look after you through the process.
2. Transferring into joint names
Even without a mortgage there’s a lot to consider when transferring a property into joint names. What happens if the two of you fall out? What if you want to sell the property but the other won’t cooperate? Having a declaration of trust to protect your contributions to a property and grant the power to sell should you fall out is best done at the outset.
3. Moving home
Is the contract pack of information and documents about your home ready for when you find a buyer who wants to complete quickly? Did you pay additional stamp duty land tax when buying your current home because you were not yet in a position to sell your previous home? The earlier you have a solicitor to help you with these aspects, the more can be done in advance of finding a buyer.
4. Extending your lease
When a long lease on a leasehold property drops below 80 years, it becomes significantly more expensive to extend and if there are too few years left on the lease it can put off mortgage lenders if you want to remortgage or sell to anyone other than a cash buyer. There are different rules for extending the leases on houses and flats, with numerous requirements for both, so it is important to have a specialist solicitor guiding you.
5. Right to Buy and Right to Acquire
Is your solicitor able to act for your mortgage lender as well as you, or might you end up having two law firms to do the work of one? Are they in a position to work to the council or housing association’s timescales? Finding these out at the earliest opportunity can save difficulty later.
6. Buying a greater share of your shared ownership home (staircasing)
If you own part of a shared ownership property and are planning to staircase to above 80% of the property, there are stamp duty land tax implications. These can get increasingly complicated if you are looking to staircase as part of a sale. The sooner you have found a solicitor to support you with the staircasing, the sooner the significant aspect of the stamp duty land tax can be dealt with.
7. Equity release
Are you obtaining a home equity release mortgage, also known as a lifetime mortgage? A chief requirement of any such mortgage is to obtain independent in-person legal advice from a solicitor, who will also assist you with navigating through the mortgage lender’s conditions before it will release the funds. Having a solicitor familiar with equity release mortgage lender requirements helps ensure that the often stressful process can proceed more smoothly.
Julie West Solicitors is able to assist with residential and commercial property work including:
And more besides
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