My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our flat in Carmel with Nationwide. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Nationwide conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing 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 Nationwide. This is solely used to protect Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.

At what point does exchange of contracts happen for residential conveyancing in Carmel and am I required to be at the conveyancers branch?

If you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Carmel you are invited in to sign contracts. However, the firms we work with supply a nationwide conveyancing service and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The signing of the contract is not the point of no return. Signing on the dotted line is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Carmel)to be in the office at the appropriate time.

My wife and I are buying a flat in Carmel. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we will need to put money into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I am assisting my niece sell her house in Carmel. Will the conveyancing solicitor arrange the EPC or it is for me to see to?

After the abolition of HIPs, energy performance certificates was left as a compulsory part of moving house. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand in advance of the property being marketed. It is not a task that lawyers ordinarily arrange. If you are using a Carmel conveyancing solicitor they might help arrange energy assessments due to their contacts with long established Carmel energy assessors

The mortgage over my property is with Clydesdale for my property in Carmel. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Clydesdale?

You must advise Clydesdale prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Clydesdale will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Clydesdale directly. You need not do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor.

Will my lawyer be raising questions regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Carmel.

Flooding is a growing risk for lawyers carrying out conveyancing in Carmel. Plenty of people will buy a house in Carmel, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Lawyers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a various searches that may be carried out by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which can give them a better understanding of the risks in Carmel. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a standard question of the seller to discover whether the property has historically flooded. If flooding has previously occurred which is not notified by the seller, then a buyer may issue a claim for damages as a result of such an misleading answer. A buyer’s lawyers may also order an environmental report. This should indicate if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries should be made.

What does commercial conveyancing in Carmel cover?

Non domestic conveyancing in Carmel covers a wide array of services, provided by regulated solicitors, relating to business premises. By way of example, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more commonly, the assignment of existing leases or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial mortgages and the termination of leases.