23 Mar 2020
On 26 March 2020 the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government published guidance on residential property sales in England & Wales during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Here's a summary of the key points:
In order to support customers who have already exchanged contracts for house purchases and set dates for completion, UK Finance confirmed that all mortgage lenders are working to find ways to enable customers who have exchanged contracts to extend their mortgage offer for up to three months to enable them to move at a later date.
These properties are unoccupied, and Government guidance is that “conveyancers should continue to support the sales of unoccupied properties as far as possible.”
We recommend that lenders who are mortgagees in possession, and are therefore engaged in selling unoccupied properties, should proceed as normal. It will be for the buyers and their solicitors, agents and removals contractors, to comply with the additional requirements during the outbreak.
Our Lender Services experts at Aberdein Considine will continue to monitor and report on developments affecting our financial services clients.
Contact Thomas Lillie or Myra Scott if you would like to discuss matter further.