My fiance and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Barlestone with Santander. 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. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander 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 Santander 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.

Can I use your services to find a Conveyancing solicitor in Barlestone even if I’m not buying or disposing of a house, for example if I wish to acquire an office in Barlestone with a loan from Godiva Mortgages Ltd?

The service is mainly used to select domestic conveyancing solicitors in Barlestone but we have recorded towards the bottom of this page a selection of Barlestone commercial conveyancing firms. You will need to speak with the firm directly to check if they can also act for Godiva Mortgages Ltd

Is it the case that all Barlestone solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Virgin Money approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the SRA. The majority of lenders do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I am buying a property in Barlestone. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Aldermore have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Aldermore your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions contained in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Aldermore. The CML Handbook includes minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Aldermore where a lease fails to meet these specifications. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not isolated to Barlestone.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Barlestone conveyancer on the Co-operative panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Co-operative mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Barlestone. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Barlestone who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Barlestone conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Barlestone Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

What restrictions are there in the Barlestone Lease? Does this lease have more than 90 years left? Generally speaking the cost for major works are not included within service charges, although some managing agents in Barlestone obliged leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works.

I own a leasehold flat in Barlestone. Conveyancing was finalised in 2010. I have heard that I mustn’t allow the lease length fall too short. Is this right?

Barlestone leasehold properties are for a set term - often 99 years when they started. However a significant flats in Barlestone were built or converted in the 60’s and so these leases now have fewer than 80 years unexpired. That may seem like plenty of time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage institutions generally require leases to have at least 75 years remaining to be mortgageable. Accordingly when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are approaching eighty years. To increase your property value you should be thinking about whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also significant benefits to taking action before the lease hits eighty years as when the lease falls below eighty years the premium you have to pay to extend starts to increase.