My partner and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Northam with Nationwide. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. 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 form unique to the Nationwide conveyancing panel as he never had 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?

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

My wife and I are intent on selling our property in Northam and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any high street Northam conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers instructed a web based conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Northam. We have lived in Northam for three years we know of no issue. Is it a good idea to get in touch with our local Authority to get confirmation that the buyers are looking for.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You should enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)

Me and my brother own a terraced Georgian property in Northam. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Alliance & Leicester . I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Northam and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing practitioner who carried out the work.

I am purchasing my first flat in Northam with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about this side-deal as it will put at risk my loan with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 intending to let out my leasehold flat in Northam. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Notwithstanding that your last Northam conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Northam Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be included within service charges, although some managing agents in Northam ask leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger works. How long is the Lease? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments?