Do you want to remortgage your home, and you’re unsure of what to expect or how much it will cost?
Our experienced team of lawyers will guide and advise you from start to finish.
There are three stages of remortgaging, these are:
1. Remortgage agreed
We will receive your redemption statement and title deeds from your existing lender to find out the outstanding balance on your mortgage.
2. Offer received
Some lenders may require full searches against the property. Once this has been completed, we will review your mortgage offer and advise you on any necessary conditions for your new mortgage.
We will send you a mortgage deed and a report for you to sign and return. You will also receive your existing mortgage redemption statement.
If there is any outstanding money owed, this will be payable at this point. Once we’ve received all relevant documents back from you, we can arrange your completion date.
3. On completion
On the agreed date of completion, any legal fees owed will be collected, and we will pay off your existing mortgage. As soon as this is complete, we will send any remaining money to you.
After this, we will go on to register your new mortgage at the Land Registry Office. As soon as this is completed, we will send you a copy of confirmation that your new mortgage has been secured over your property.
Our team will assign you a lawyer who can help and advise you. You will be able to contact your assigned lawyer through phone or email in case you have any questions.
If you would like us to help you remortgage your property, please contact us on 0121 803 4665 for more information.
Timescales
It can normally take four weeks to re-mortgage a property. However, please note that it can take longer if there are any complexities, such as there is a complexity in the legal title, or if your Lender has a special condition in the mortgage offer which requires satisfaction. These examples are not exhaustive; there can be many other legal issues that can affect the timescales. Please note that if you are re-mortgaging a Leasehold property, it will take longer. Please allow an extra 2 to 3 weeks, and this type of title to a property is more complicated.
Transfer of Equity
A Transfer of Equity occurs when you are looking to transfer your legal ownership in a property in your name into someone else’s name, or even if you want to remain the legal owner but want to add a new person to the Title, with whom you want to own the property. There are several situations which may require a Transfer of Equity, some examples of the types of Transfer of Equity matter we deal with are (not an exhaustive list); a property is Transferred for love and affection within a family for no money, a divorce situation under a court order or you wish to Transfer out your legal ownership for some value or be released from a mortgage.
What are the steps in a transfer of equity?
The steps which we will take to deal with a Transfer of Equity will depend on the on the type of Transfer of Equity and which party we act for i.e if we act for the Transferor ( The Party who owns the property but they are Transferring out this ownership) or if we act for the Transferee (the Party to who the legal ownership is being Transferred to). We cannot act for both the Transferor and Transferee; each party will need to be separately represented.
Steps taken when acting for the Transferor
If the property is not encumbered, we would obtain copies of the Title for the property from the Land Registry and will forward them to the Transferee’s lawyer to review and draft a Transfer Deed.
If the property in question is mortgaged, you will need to apply through your lender for a ‘transfer of equity’ application. Once this is approved, then Lawyers can be instructed to act.
Once the Transfer Deed is in an approved form, we will arrange for you to sign the same. We would then arrange to complete the Transfer of Equity and will send the Transfer Deed to the Transferee’s solicitors to deal with registration of the Transfer at the Land Registry. We would ask the Transferee’s Lawyer to send us an updated copy of the register once their application is completed at the Land Registry. A copy of the updated register will be sent for your records.
Please note this is a brief overview. The process can be complicated, and there may be enquiries or further documents you may need to sign on the request of the Transferee’s Lawyer. Also, the type of Transfer of Equity will change the steps we take
Steps taken for the Transferee
When we act for a Transferee, we will be involved in drafting the Transfer Deed for the Transferor’s lawyer to approve and will also consider any Insolvency issues. We may also raise any further enquiries with the Transferor’s Lawyer.
Stamp Duty
Please note that Stamp duty can sometimes be payable when completing a transfer of equity – our team of lawyers will assess your circumstances and can advise you further on this.
Once our enquiries are fully dealt with and the Transfer is in an approved form. The Transferor will sign this with their lawyer, and we will call you to our office to sign a counterpart to the Transfer Deed. We will then arrange a completion date.
On Completion
We will arrange to complete with the Transferor’s Lawyer on the day of completion.
On receipt of the Transfer Deed from the Transferor’s Lawyer, our lawyers will apply to the Land Registry Office to register the property for the new ownership to be updated. Once our application is completed with the Land Registry, you will be sent an updated copy of the register, and a copy will be sent to the Transferor’s Lawyer for their records.
A fee will be charged by the Land Registry Office for a transfer of equity application to be completed by them; the amount depends on how much the property is worth or the amount paid to complete the Transfer.
If you would like more information, please contact us on 0121 384 4665 and one of our dedicated team of lawyers will be happy to advise you further.