My wife and I swapping mortgage lender for our apartment in New Malden with Lloyds. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. 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 two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Lloyds conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 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 Lloyds 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 Lloyds. This is solely used to protect Lloyds 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 Lloyds 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.

Is it the case that all New Malden solicitor practices on the Nationwide conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Nationwide approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. Some mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be overseen by the CLC.

We previously selected conveyancing lawyers locally in New Malden on the Coventry BS solicitor panel. They are now charging me a further sum for the legal aspects of the Coventry BS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Coventry BS?

As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancing practitioner may charge a fee for this. This charge is not set by Coventry BS but by your New Malden conveyancing practitioner. Numerous firms on the Coventry BS panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but some practices include it on their overall fee.

Our sealed bid on a detached house in New Malden has been agreed to, but there is a chain. The owners have offered on on an apartment, but it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other flats in the pipeline. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in New Malden. What should be my next step? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money?

It is usual to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, New Malden conveyancing search fees, etc). First, you must check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Concerning the subsequent stages this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your case, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market many buyers will apply for a home loan with Virgin Money and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they ask their solicitor to press on with the conveyancing in New Malden.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in New Malden. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in New Malden

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a New Malden conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a New Malden conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non New Malden conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be helpful:

How many lease extensions have they completed in New Malden in the last 12 months? What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Having spent months of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in New Malden. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to judgment on the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a New Malden residence is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case related to 1 flat.

I have today placed an offer on a leasehold flat in New Malden and the broker that we are using suggested his solicitor. He quoted £800 including VAT and 3rd party costs. Does this sound like a good deal?

You should not rely on a single quote. You should seek like-for-like quotes for your conveyancing in New Malden. Then select one that you are comfortable with and just as important, is on the approved list of the lender that you are sourcing your mortgage from.