My fiance and I are refinancing our maisonette in Corsham with Barclays. We have a son 19 who lives with us. 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 property is repossessed. I have two questions (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 extinguish 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 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.

Are all Corsham Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel?

It is true that some lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.

Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Corsham. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.

I had an offer accepted on a property in Corsham on 21/1/2025, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Principality and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel. Are Principality entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Principality to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Principality conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Will our solicitor be making enquiries regarding flooding during the conveyancing in Corsham.

Flooding is a growing risk for conveyancers dealing with homes in Corsham. Plenty of people will purchase a house in Corsham, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Solicitors are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will give them a better understanding of the risks in Corsham. The conventional set of property information forms given to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard inquiry of the vendor to discover if the property has suffered from flooding. In the event that the property has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer may commence a claim for damages as a result of such an misleading reply. A buyer’s conveyancers should also order an environmental search. This will indicate whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be conducted.

I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Corsham prior to retaining lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may not issue a loan on a flying freehold home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions for example to Halifax. If you contact us we can check via 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 Corsham. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Corsham. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Corsham - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I invested in buying a split level flat in Corsham, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2003. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Corsham with an extended lease are worth £197,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2080

With 55 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £31,400 and £36,200 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.