My fiance and I are refinancing our penthouse in Taffs Well with Nottingham. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults 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 forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Nottingham conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his entitlement to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Nottingham 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 Nottingham. This is solely used to protect Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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.

It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Taffs Well took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 asset 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.

How does conveyancing in Taffs Well differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build property in Taffs Well contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is completed. This is because builders in Taffs Well typically acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Taffs Well or who has acted in the same development.

We're novice buyers - had an offer accepted, yet the property agent advised that the vendor will only proceed if we use the agent's chosen lawyers as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a high street conveyancer accustomed to conveyancing in Taffs Well

We suspect that the owner is not behind this request. If they desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated purchaser is likely to cause more damage than good. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you intend to instruct your preferred Taffs Well conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide the estate agent a kickback or meet his conveyancing figures demanded by senior management.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Taffs Well from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Taffs Well can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ solicitors.
Some Taffs Well leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Taffs Well state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you fail to have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance. If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Taffs Well conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Taffs Well Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Taffs Well require leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. You should be aware if it is less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Taffs Welllease extensions you will need to own the property for two years in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension. Does the lease contain onerous restrictions?