Power of attorney for joint house purchase.

[Troy_af]

Hello all.


I am in the process of buying and selling. The property I’m selling is owned by myself only and the onward purchase will be a joint purchase with joint mortgage between me and my partner.

I could potentially be working away in the near future and I will not be contactable. This could unfortunately be quite bad timing as it may be when we are expecting to exchange/complete. Hopefully all paperwork will be complete and signed by myself before then (contracts, transfer, mortgage deed), but this may not be the case. Given my job circumstances I have a general power of attorney in place, so that my partner can act on my behalf if I am away. This does cover selling and buying property on my behalf and was discussed when I took out the power of attorney.

However, my concern here is whether or not my partner can act on my behalf in this situation considering the onward purchase will be jointly owned. I didn’t think this would be a problem, but after doing a little research I have seen a couple of online articles saying that there must be two separate signatures on a transfer document.

In other words, I’m not sure if a power of attorney can be appointed to someone who is also going to be a joint owner. Most of the advice online only seems to be regarding selling a home under joint ownership, not a purchase. Also, most of the information I can find refers to an LPA (lasting power of attorney), which is different to what I have in place. Now this has me panicking big style as this could potentially jeopardise the whole purchase,

I am just looking for some advice here or maybe hear from anybody who has been in a similar situation?

Thanks for any help.

[atticus]

The other person will sign twice: on his own behalf and as your attorney.

[Sam101]

Alternatively, you could ask your solicitor to sign on your behalf subject to you confirming this by e-mail if you are not available? I presume that you have a solicitor acting in the conveyance.

Out of interest, will the new property be a joint tenancy or tenants in common?

[Troy_af]

Alternatively, you could ask your solicitor to sign on your behalf subject to you confirming this by e-mail if you are not available? I presume that you have a solicitor acting in the conveyance.

Out of interest, will the new property be a joint tenancy or tenants in common?

It will be joint tenancy. I was not aware that my solicitor could sign on my behalf. Is this also possible for mortgage deeds? This seems to be where I could have a problem, I think. From my lenders criteria:

5.17.3 In the case of joint borrowers, neither borrower may appoint the other as their attorney.

This is certainly quite confusing and annoying, because I did specifically discuss and explain my situation with the solicitor at the time. I explained that the purpose of the power of attorney was to sell my current home and proceed with a joint onward purchase, which as a result, would also mean my partner setting up the mortgage on my behalf. They recommended and set up a “section 10 general power of attorney”.

[atticus]

but had they read the lender's mortgage terms at the time?

Can you find someone else to sign as your attorney? A power of attorney limited in time and specific to one stated transaction is a relatively short document, 2 pages at most. I have prepared numerous such things for use in corporate transactions.