My partner and I are refinancing our apartment in South Petherton with Co-operative. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 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 apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights 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 Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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.

We are looking to buy a flat and need a conveyancing solicitor in South Petherton who is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Can you recommend a local solicitor?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Virgin Money . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in South Petherton.

I have todayfound out that Stirling Law have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in South Petherton for a purchase of a leasehold flat 10 months ago. How can I establish that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest way to check if the property is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of South Petherton conveyancing specialists.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in South Petherton ahead of appointing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a loan on this type of house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can check with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in South Petherton. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

How does one remove a departed person's details from the title deeds for a house in South Petherton?

If a South Petherton property is jointly owned and one of the owners passes away, their name will not immediately be removed from the title deeds. You are not required to amend the title as in the event of a sale your conveyancer would just need to supply proof why the joint owner is not a party to the contract, such as the probate documents.

With the aim of making the sale conveyancing smoother for the sale of the property you may apply to have the deceased person removed from the title by submitting an application to HMLR with evidence of the death. There is no charge from the Registry for this service.