My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our apartment in Kirkby Stephen with HSBC. 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 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 repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the HSBC conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 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 HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC 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 HSBC 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.

Completed the sale of my flat in Kirkby Stephen last May but our buyer keeps telephoning daily to say their conveyancer is waiting to hear from myconveyancer. What should have happened following completion?

Following your house sale your solicitor is duty bound to deliver the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. If applicable, your lawyer should also send confirmation that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been discharged to the purchasers conveyancers. There are no post completion tasks unique to conveyancing in Kirkby Stephen.

I am due to move house in March. Does my conveyancing solicitor communicate with the removal company on the day of completion. On a separate note, can you put forward a removal company in Kirkby Stephen. Conveyancing lawyer was organised prior to coming across your website.

On the day of completion you will need to pick up the keys from the estate agent however this should only take place when the sellers solicitors inform the agent that the monies to complete are in and the keys can be released. Subsequently you should tell the removal men that they can start moving you in. We are not in a position to suggest a specific removal company but can assist you in choosing a residential property solicitor in Kirkby Stephen or a legal practice that specialises in conveyancing in Kirkby Stephen.

I have paid off my mortgage with RBS. I assume I don't need a Kirkby Stephen conveyancing practitioner on the RBS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your RBS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the RBS mortgage from the register. RBS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where RBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. RBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in July 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, Nationwide are being a right pain. The Kirkby Stephen solicitor who is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Nationwide are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Nationwide have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Nationwide have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Nationwide may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I have todaydiscovered that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Kirkby Stephen for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 10 months ago. How can I check that my home is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?

The quickest way to check if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Kirkby Stephen conveyancing specialists.

I have been advised by a number of selling agents in Kirkby Stephen to locate a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to market your site rather than another?

We don’t give any referral fee for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.