My fiance and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Cranbrook with UBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the UBS conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your UBS 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 UBS. This is solely used to protect UBS 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 UBS 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.

My wife and I are selling our home in Cranbrook and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a factory type conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Cranbrook. Having lived in Cranbrook for 4 years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to seek clarification that the buyers are looking for.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. What do they say? You need to check with 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 health insurance to cover that same sickness)

Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Cranbrook. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cranbrook

There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Please supply a car parking plan.

I was advised by a few estate agents in Cranbrook to choose a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to promote your lawyers over a competitor’s?

We don’t give any financial incentive for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

We are four weeks into a freehold purchase having been directed to solicitors by the high street agent to handle our conveyancing in Cranbrook. We are not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?

A solicitor would need to be really bad in order to consider changing them. Has your mortgage been issued? If so you must make them aware of the replacement solicitor and have the offer are re-sent. The conveyancer should be on the lenders approved list to avoid supplemental charges and complications. That should be your first question of the new lawyers. The search tool can assist you in finding a lender approved lawyer for your home move in Cranbrook