My fiance and I swapping mortgage lender for our apartment in Bacup with HSBC. We have a son 18 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, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the HSBC conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his entitlement 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 HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC 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 HSBC 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.

Please explain the implications if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the HSBC Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Bacup?

First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.

Various web forums that I have frequented warn that are a common cause of stalling in Bacup house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Bacup.

I'm buying a new build house in Bacup with a mortgage from Aldermore. The developers would not move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it could jeopardize my loan 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in Bacup where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Bacup conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Bacup Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Where a Bacup lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the premises for two years before you are eligible to exercise a lease extension. How many years remain on the lease? You will want to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they will either make your living at the property much easier or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day matters such as the upkeep of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours if they are happy with them. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that the service charges are due to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending that money.