My husband and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in New Forest with Barclays. We have a son approaching twenty 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 property is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Barclays conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 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 Barclays 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 Barclays. This is solely used to protect Barclays 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 Barclays 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.

We are buying a 1 bedroom flat in New Forest with a residential mortgage from Halifax.We like our New Forest conveyancing lawyer but Halifax informed us her practice is not listed on their "panel". We have to appoint a Halifax panel firm or keep our high street solicitor and fork out for a Halifax panel lawyer to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Halifax use our lawyer?

No, not really. The loan issued to you is subject to its various provisions, one of which will be that conveyancers must be on the Halifax approved list. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Halifax

four months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in New Forest took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I am buying a new build apartment in New Forest. Conveyancing is daunting 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 conveyancing.

Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in New Forest

Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Please supply a car parking plan. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in New Forest where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local New Forest conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having 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 disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 buyer.

I inherited a ground floor flat in New Forest, conveyancing formalities finalised 4 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in New Forest with a long lease are worth £202,000. The ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2082

With only 57 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £28,500 and £33,000 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.