My wife and I are refinancing our apartment in Selly Oak with Yorkshire BS. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. 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 a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?

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

It is is a decade since I acquired my house in Selly Oak. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to locate my title documents. Is this a problem?

You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be kept by your mortgage company or they may still be with the lawyers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in all probability the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Selly Oak relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.

My brother-in-law has suggested I instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Selly Oak. I need to find out whether they are accepted on the Halifax approved list of lawyers. Could you assist?

You should e-mail the lawyer and enquire if they are on the lender panel. Otherwise you can call Halifax who may be able to help.

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Selly Oak. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Selly Oak - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

Selly Oak Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Be sure to discover if the the lease contains any adverse restrictions in the lease. For example it is very common in Selly Oak leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Selly Oak. If you like the apartmentin Selly Oak yet your dog can’t move with you then you will be faced difficult determination. You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out what this will be. For most Selly Oaklease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the residence for 24 months in order to be legally able to extend the lease. Best to be warned if changing the roof or some other major work is pending to be shared amongst the leasehold owners and may well dramatically impact the level of the service costs or necessitate a one time invoice.

Me and my husband are selling a Selly Oak bungalow we inherited some years ago in 2009. I have over 15 years conveyancing know-how and, now retired, wish to undertake my own legal work. The purchaser's lawyer has informed me that their mortgage company will not allow us to do our own conveyancing as they require the funds to be sent to a solicitor's bank account.

Lending instructions to lawyers from all mainstream lenders specify that If the seller does not have legal representation the buyer’s lawyers should check whether the mortgage company needs to be informed so that a decision can be made if they are prepared to progress.