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Buy of the week: Camden Town
This two-bedroom flat has a pretty park on its doorstep, while buzzing Camden Town is only 10 minutes’ walk away. Big sash windows and high ceilings give a spacious feel and there’s a private garden with a studio/home office (£525,000).
Swap of the week: Willersey, Glouc
This little Cotswolds beauty is just across the road from the village green and duck pond. For £530,000 you get beams, exposed stone walls and an open fireplace, plus four bedrooms, a useful attic room and lush gardens to enjoy.
Life-changer: Trescowe, Cornwall
For a project brimming with potential, what about this coastal home, yours for £545,000? The family space includes six bedrooms, while its collection of outbuildings overlooking an acre of gardens could become income-generating holiday lets.
Spotlight on Camden Town
The shops and markets clustered around the high street and canal make Camden one of the most colourful of London's neighbourhoods. The area's period homes and loft-style apartments attract a mix of homebuyers.
Property search
Why have one lawyer when three will do?
Our laywer, Fiona McNulty, explains why a solicitor who is acting for the borrower cannot also act for the guarantor of a mortgage
© Merrily Harpur
Answer: According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook, a solicitor who is acting for the borrower cannot generally also act for the guarantor, nor for someone who is going to occupy the property who has to consent to the mortgage.
Your son’s girlfriend is not a party to the mortgage but clearly will be living in the flat and as such may have rights of occupation that could affect the lender’s rights under the mortgage.
Because of this, the mortgage lender has requested your son’s girlfriend to sign a deed or form of consent or release as a result of which she gives up all her rights of occupation.
It is extremely important that she understands exactly what it is she is signing and that no undue influence is placed on her and so it is crucial that she takes independent legal advice from a solicitor who will explain the situation to her.
You, as guarantor, should also take independent legal advice so you are fully aware of the consequences and risk of guaranteeing the mortgage, if for example, arrears build up.
Some lenders will accept written evidence that an occupier or guarantor has been advised to seek independent legal advice even though that independent advice might not have been taken, and so I suggest you ask your son’s solicitor if that applies in your particular case.
What's your problem?
If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk. We regret that questions cannot be answered individually.
Fiona is a partner in the property team at Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons Solicitors www.ttuk.com.
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