My partner and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Cobham with Co-operative. We have a son 18 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. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document 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 Co-operative conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his entitlement to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Co-operative 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 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.

Do I need to have a meeting at the offices of the solicitor to execute the legal charge? If so, I will appoint a lawyer who conducts conveyancing in Cobham so that I can pop in to their offices if necessary.

As opposed to 15 years ago, most lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel lawyer to witness the borrowers signature. It will still be necessary for you to hand over identification documents and there are still distinct advantages to choosing a locally based ayer, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in Cobham.

What does a local search inform me about the property we're buying in Cobham?

Cobham conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for instance Searches UK The local search is essential in every Cobham conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your new home. The search will reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic sections.

I have a semi-detached Georgian house in Cobham. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Accord Mortgages Ltd. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 Cobham 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 purchasers. You can also question the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.

I am buying a new build apartment in Cobham. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cobham

Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Please supply a car parking plan.