My wife and I are refinancing our apartment in Ventnor with Barclays. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Barclays conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement 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.

My grandfather passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Ventnor. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Aldermore, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Given you intend to refinance then Aldermore will require that you use a conveyancer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Aldermore mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

What can a local search reveal about the property I am purchasing in Ventnor?

Ventnor conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for example PSG The local search plays an important role in many a Ventnor conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search should reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Ventnor before instructing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor advised that some lenders will not issue a loan on such a property.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions from Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Ventnor. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Ventnor to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Ventnor. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Ventnor ?

Most houses in Ventnor are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area who can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Ventnor in which case you should be shopping around for a Ventnor conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is located on an estate. Your lawyer will appraise you on the various issues.

Ventnor Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

Many Ventnor leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the landlord. If you buy the flat you will have to meet this contribution, normally quarterly throughout the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire as on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive. It is important to be aware if fixing the lift or some other major work is due shortly to be shared by the leaseholders and will dramatically increase the the service fees or result in a one off payment. What is the annual maintenance fee and ground rent?