My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our apartment in Chase Side with Bank of Ireland. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 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 Bank of Ireland. This is solely used to protect Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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.

What does a local search reveal about the property I am buying in Chase Side?

Chase Side conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for example Onsearch The local search plays an important part in most Chase Side conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any unpleasant once you have moved into your new home. The search should reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Chase Side?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Chase Side. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £225,000 garden flat in Chase Side in nine days. The managing agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Chase Side?

Chase Side conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally involves administration charges raised by managing agents :

Answering pre-contract questions Where consent is required before sale in Chase Side Supplying insurance information Deeds of covenant upon sale Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Chase Side leasehold property is £350. For Chase Side conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

I own a first floor flat in Chase Side. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Chase Side premises is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case related to 2 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 70.31 years.

Fiveweeks into buying a house in Chase Side. Conveyancing lawyer has called to say the title is "Leasehold". Should this adversely affect our lender’s valuation?

Chase Side conveyancing does not normally involve leasehold houses. The crucial consideration here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a nominal rent, it's almost the same as freehold, so it’s unlikely to affect the marketability too much.

At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, 50 years it will have a significant impact on the value, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be stated in the lease to be supplied to your property lawyer.