Much to our surprise we have been notified by our broker that my Hilton solicitor is not on the mortgage company Solicitor panel. How can I be certain that this is indeed the case?

You need to call your Hilton conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you what has happened. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your lender.

My partner and I are refinancing our apartment in Hilton with Co-operative. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. 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 two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 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 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 visit the offices of the solicitor to execute the legal charge? If so, I will appoint a lawyer who conducts conveyancing in Hilton so that I can pop in to their offices if necessary.

As opposed to 12 years ago, most mortgage companies no longer oblige their conveyancing panel lawyer to witness the borrowers signature. It will still be necessary for you to supply identification documents and there are still distinct advantages to using a locally based ayer, in your situation a conveyancing solicitor in Hilton.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Hilton. 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 conveyancing.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Hilton

There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided.

Given that I will soon spend £400,000 on a two bedroom apartment in Hilton I wish to have a conversation with the solicitor about myhome move before giving the go ahead to the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?

This is something that we encourage - we would be pleased to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the solicitor due to be carrying out your conveyancing in Hilton.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important individual, not a case number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are provided with for your conveyancing in Hilton should be the figure that you end up paying.