My wife and I intend to remortgage our flat in Corbridge with Co-operative. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults 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 apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights 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 Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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'm buying my first flat in Corbridge with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires. The sellers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not to tell my lawyer about this extras as it could affect my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.

I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Corbridge ahead of retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. Our surveyor has said that some banks will not issue a loan on this type of property.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements for example to Nationwide. If you contact us we can look into this further via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Corbridge. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Corbridge where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Corbridge conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

I acquired a basement flat in Corbridge, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Corbridge with over 90 years remaining are worth £202,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2074

With just 56 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £29,500 and £34,000 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

What is the reason for my lawyer requiring numerous items of identification before they can commence with my conveyancing in Corbridge?

Corbridge solicitors are obliged by the Law Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority, HMLR and current Money Laundering legislation to record that the have verified the identity of their clients. It is also sometimes a condition of your mortgage offer. In addition they have to complete various forms, particularly those relating to stamp duty land tax and need to have details such as your full names, national insurance number and date of birth.