My grandfather passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Little Venice. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Yorkshire BS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Where you intend to refinance then Yorkshire BS will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Yorkshire BS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

My wife and I have a 4 bedroom Victorian house in Little Venice. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Skipton Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Little Venice and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Little Venice in advance of instructing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor has said that some mortgage companies tend refuse to grant a loan on this type of home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Little Venice. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

Is it possible to transfer to a new solicitor as I have to select one who is on the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing list. I hired a high street conveyancing solicitor in Little Venice five minutes from me but the firm is not approved by Yorkshire Building Society

We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Little Venice on the Yorkshire Building Society panel. Please note that the conveyancers that we work with do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Little Venice. In utilising search facility on this site, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Little Venice.

I’m about to sell my ground floor apartment in Little Venice.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have recently had a half-yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice as you normally would given that all rents and service invoices will be allottedas part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially