My fiance and I are refinancing our flat in Welwyn Garden City with Aldermore. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 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 flat is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up 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 Aldermore. This is solely used to protect Aldermore 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 Aldermore 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 expecting a mortgage offer soon. The lender mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to instruct their panel conveyancer as I would prefer to appoint a specialised conveyancing solicitor in Welwyn Garden City?

Do check but the chances are that appoint one of their panel lawyers if you want the "fee-free" deal. Contact the lender and determine if they make available a monetary alternative. It is not unheard for a lender to give a £250 cashback as a further option in which case you could put that amount towards your preferred conveyancing solicitor in Welwyn Garden City.

My colleague advised me that where I am buying in Welwyn Garden City I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Welwyn Garden City conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing important information about Welwyn Garden City around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Welwyn Garden City.

I am buying a new build flat in Welwyn Garden City. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Welwyn Garden City

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Welwyn Garden City I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Welwyn Garden City for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?

If you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.