Re-mortgaging

loobylou36

After applying a couple of months ago for a re-mortgage we have finally received our mortgage offer, the survey has been done and now it will be passed over to the solicitor for him to do the searches.

Basically how long roughly should this process take?

MarkyMarkD

The searches would normally have been done whilst awaiting the mortgage offer ... I'm not sure why there would be any need to wait for the offer as this is just increasing the overall elapsed time.

loobylou36

Thanks for the reply, I am going to telephone my solicitor tomorrow and instruct him to start the searches straight away!!!

hells_2

Depending on which area you live expect 10-14 days for searches to come back. Some councils are very good, i.e. 7 days but it is often the Coal and Water searches that take longest.

I wouldn't instruct a solicitor to do an ounce of work if I wasn't sure if I had a mortgage! They charge for so much as picking up a pen to sign their name these days!

Mind you, are you using the lender's solicitor to work for both sides? Some let you do this. Indeed, when I was asked which lawyer I would be using it turned out they work for the bank anyhoo and saved me a lot of money (in fact...cost me zip! lol....it's who you know!)

Debt_Free_Chick

Searches ... for a re-mortgage? Why?

I thought they were only done when the property was bought, so you knew if there were any problems. Once you've bought it, new problems can come along, but ... so what? Not being rude, but the searches are for the buyer's use, not the lender's.

Surely, a re-mortgage is a simple change of lender and then registering the new lender's charge at the Land Registry.

hells_2

If someone brings a property to me, in my job then we undertake all the searches and report on title regardless, for the lender's sake, regardless of whether any searches or valuations have been undertaken for the benefit of another lender, as we wouldn't rely upon them!

AndrewSmith

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Searches ... for a re-mortgage? Why?

I thought they were only done when the property was bought, so you knew if there were any problems. Once you've bought it, new problems can come along, but ... so what? Not being rude, but the searches are for the buyer's use, not the lender's.

Surely, a re-mortgage is a simple change of lender and then registering the new lender's charge at the Land Registry.

Searches are carried out every time a re-mortgage takes place where the lender is being changed.

Debt_Free_Chick

AndrewSmith wrote:

Searches are carried out every time a re-mortgage takes place where the lender is being changed.

Well, I never knew that. Incidentally, what's in the searches that could affect the lender's decision to give a mortgage?

WestonDave

People tend to think of searches as just the local search - that is done on a remortgage mainly to check nothing is about to happen in the local plan etc which will blight the property and affect its security value - e.g. a motorway through the back garden etc.

However a land charges search and a bankruptcy search are also done. The latter is obvious - to make sure they aren't lending to a bankrupt. The land charges search is to ensure no-one else has a charge over the property i.e. a second mortgage or a charge for debt recovery.

Debt_Free_Chick

WestonDave wrote:

However a land charges search and a bankruptcy search are also done. The latter is obvious - to make sure they aren't lending to a bankrupt. The land charges search is to ensure no-one else has a charge over the property i.e. a second mortgage or a charge for debt recovery.

I can understand that, but you can do that online for £2 and it's instant. But does the lender get the local authority searches too? I just can't understand why the lender would be bothered about a potential wide-roadening scheme, for example. Let's say that there was no mention of this when I bought my house, but there's one in the pipeline when I come to remortage .... are we saying that the lender might refuse the mortgage or increase the terms because of it?

I've just never heard of this and would really like to understand what it's all about.

Jorgan_2

The lender will want to know that the property provides suitable security for their loan. If a road is proposed that may well affect the value of the property & therefore the security it provides. Environmental searches will show things like risk of flooding, which can change over a period of time & again affect the security offered by the property. The solicitor has to act for the buyer/remortgager as wlll as the lender.