My grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Wisbech. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to , pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Given you intend to refinance then will require that you use a conveyancer on the 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 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 mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

is it true that all Wisbech solicitor firms on the conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the practice would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I can not fathom if my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Wisbech bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My Wisbech conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- telephoned to say that they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?

Provided that the is on the mortgage company approved list, they must adhere to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions for the bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Wisbech. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their . I paid an on account payment of £200. A few days later, the called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I purchased a semi-detached Georgian house in Wisbech. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and . I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Wisbech and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who completed the work.

I am buying a new build house in Wisbech with a mortgage from . The builders refused to budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent suggested that I not inform my lawyer about this deal as it would impact my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.

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.

I opted to have a survey completed on a property in Wisbech prior to instructing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor advised that some lenders may not grant a mortgage on this type of home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. If you contact us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Wisbech. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.