My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette in Scotter with Aldermore. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify 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 property is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 3 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 Aldermore. This is solely used to protect Aldermore 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 Aldermore 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.

The Scotter conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Scotter have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Skipton conveyancing panel and my preferred Scotter lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Skipton conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.

My wife and I are in the throws of viewing flats in Scotter and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it wise to have my solicitor on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a home loan with Barclays.

It would be sensible to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the selling agent. As you are seeking a mortgage with Barclays, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

Planning on purchasing a apartment in Scotter. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Scotter conveyancer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel.

Coventry BS have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a apartment in Scotter has been accepted, what happens next?

The property agent will wish to know who your solicitors are (make sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s approved list). Telephone Coventry BS or the financial adviser and complete any relevant forms. Coventry BS will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or vendor to arrange a slot for the valuation to happen. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a week for the mortgage offer to be issued. Coventry BS will send the offer to you and your conveyancing practitioners. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Scotter.

I have justfound out that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Scotter for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I establish that the property is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest method 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 Scotter conveyancing specialists.

Looking forward to complete next month on a garden flat in Scotter. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Scotter should include some of the following:

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or having a home office for business Repair and maintenance of the property It needs to be made clear to you whether the lease allows you to alter or improve anything in the flat- you should know whether any restrictions applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether licences for alterations is required if lease has a provision for a reserve fund? An explanation concerning the obligations in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the wider rights a lessee enjoys

I bought a 1 bedroom flat in Scotter, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar flats in Scotter with over 90 years remaining are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2086

You have 62 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £17,100 and £19,800 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.