My husband and I intend to remortgage our flat in Brynmawr with Skipton. We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 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 flat is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish his rights to inherit the property?

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

Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a search tool with a view to list law firms on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel for instance in Brynmawr?

We would not expect to be advised of any intention on the part of the BSA to promote such a tool.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one close by in Brynmawr I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Brynmawr suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

Given that I am about to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house in Brynmawr I would like to have a conversation with the lawyer regarding thehome move in advance of instructing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?

Absolutely - we would be delighted to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the solicitor due to be doing your conveyancing in Brynmawr.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important individual, not a case reference. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for residential conveyancing in Brynmawr should be the figure that you are charged.

How do I establish who owns a house in Brynmawr?

Assuming that the premises is recorded at the Land Registry, and you have requisite information of the address of the premises, you should be able to view details from the the Land Registry of the recorded proprietor for a for less than a fiver.