Remortgage/SCC Restriction

[Senior 10]

Hi Everyone, hopefully someone will have past experience with this and be able to help.

 

I'm trying to re-mortgage my property that I own. The solicitors that are dealing with the transfer of all documents from one lender to the other have written to me and said that there is a restriction by Sheffield City Council (clause 6).

 

Basically it used to be a council house (30 years ago) and there is some clause saying that SCC could potentially charge a nominal amount on the land at some point in the future.

 

The solicitors want £75 for writing to SCC to reveal what the restriction is, and SCC won't remove the restriction.

 

Are the solicitors ripping me off (more than normal)? Or are SCC being a bunch of ass holes - surely I am going to get this issue every few years which could wipe out any financial advantage to re-mortgaging the property in the first place!

[Grace007 10]

£75 to write a letter? That lawyer must have a golden pen.

 

That said, given your legal interest in the property, can you not write SCC yourself? Moreover, shouldn't restrictions on a property be registered at the Land Registry and therefore on the office copy (which you can obtain for £3-£5)? Furthermore, was this restriction in place before or after you bought the property?

 

Hopefully someone with more experience will respond. Best, G.

[mlfc 10]

You probably ought to find out what it is as, more serious than making a remortgage unadvantageous, you might struggle to sell in years to come as a buyer's solicitor would pick up on it. Once you know what it is, you shouldn't (logically you would think) have to pay again in future as you'll have it in writing.

 

It could be something like this which could stop you selling to someone from outside of the area - http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2725029/Council-wont-remove-restriction-house-knocking-price.html

[Cyclone 10]

Probably cheaper to take out insurance cover against the restriction than to pay £75 for a letter.

[Mel's Mum 10]

It sounds like your solicitor is not Sheffield based. Sheffield City Council use a standard restriction on all their right-to-buys which then stays on the deeds for all future owners. The restriction says that every new owner has to sign a standard Deed of Covenant and send it off to Sheffield City Council. The standard deed of covenant is available here (scroll down to the bottom of the page and there are some hyperlinks):

 

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/housing-services/buying-your-council-home/conveyancing.html

 

SCC charge £50 to register the deed of covenant (its basically a promise that you will adhere to any conditions in the original conveyance).

 

Sorry, I've just remembered you are a re-mortgage so the SCC fee is £25. Don't let your solicitor charge you £75 to write to the council because they don't need to.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

It sounds like your solicitor is not Sheffield based. Sheffield City Council use a standard restriction on all their right-to-buys which then stays on the deeds for all future owners. The restriction says that every new owner has to sign a standard Deed of Covenant and send it off to Sheffield City Council. The standard deed of covenant is available here (scroll down to the bottom of the page and there are some hyperlinks):

 

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/housing-services/buying-your-council-home/conveyancing.html

 

SCC charge £50 to register the deed of covenant (its basically a promise that you will adhere to any conditions in the original conveyance).

 

Sorry, I've just remembered you are a re-mortgage so the SCC fee is £25. Don't let your solicitor charge you £75 to write to the council because they don't need to.

Yes. SCC always impose this Restriction on any RTB sale.

But I doubt that it should affect a remortgage; it's aimed only at successive owners.

[Mel's Mum 10]

Yes you're right Jeffrey, I was thinking of a transfer and re-mortgage but they shouldn't need a deed of covenant for a straightforward re-mortgage.