My wife and I are refinancing our maisonette in Waddon with Santander. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Santander had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

I am close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in Waddon and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using a national conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Waddon. We have lived in Waddon for three years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)

I am purchasing my first flat in Waddon with a loan from National Westminster Bank. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent advised me not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it could impact my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Given that I will soon spend £400,000 on a two bedroom apartment in Waddon I would like to talk to a solicitor about myhouse move in advance of instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?

Absolutely - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the conveyancer who will be conducting your property ownership legalities in Waddon.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is an important individual, not a file number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for your conveyancing in Waddon should be the figure that you end up paying.

Last December I purchased a leasehold flat in Waddon. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without success. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Waddon conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Waddon conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Waddon residence is 29 Woodstock Road in April 2014. the Tribunal determined that the premiums to be paid into court in respect of the purchase of the freehold registered at HMLR under Title N0.SY3997 should be £7,217. This case related to 4 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 98 years.