My fiance and I intend to remortgage our flat in St Mellons with Aldermore. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults 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 apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Aldermore 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 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.

My wife and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in St Mellons and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. A local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers are using a web based conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in St Mellons. We have lived in St Mellons for many years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor already. Are they able to advise? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)

I'm purchasing my first flat in St Mellons with a loan from Barclays . The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep told me not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it will adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. St Mellons is where the house is located. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in St Mellons are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Mellons you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Mellons may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

My husband and I are new on the property ladder - had an offer accepted, yet the agent told us that the seller will only move forward if we appoint their preferred conveyancers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local conveyancer accustomed to conveyancing in St Mellons

It is highly unlikely the vendors are behind this. If they require ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Speak to the owners direct and make the point that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances arranged © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you are going to use your own,trusted St Mellons conveyancing firm - not the ones that will earn the negotiator at the agency a kickback or hit his conveyancing figures set by corporate headquarters.