My wife and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in West Hampstead with Principality. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Principality conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 4 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 Principality 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 Principality. This is solely used to protect Principality 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 Principality 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.

My uncle passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in West Hampstead. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to UBS, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?

Given you intend to re-mortgage then UBS will require that you use a conveyancer on the UBS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your UBS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the UBS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

We are buying a house in West Hampstead. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we will need to send funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I'm spending time viewing apartments in West Hampstead and I am about to put in an offer. Is it sensible to have a solicitor on ‘stand by’? I am planning to take a mortgage with Coventry BS.

You should start obtaining conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the estate agent. Given that you are seeking a mortgage with Coventry BS, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel.

TSB have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a flat in West Hampstead has been accepted, what are the next steps?

Your property agent will need to know who your solicitors are (be sure the property lawyers are on the lender’s panel). Telephone TSB or the financial adviser and complete any relevant forms. TSB will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or seller to schedule an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a week to get a mortgage offer. TSB will send the offer to you and your solicitors. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in West Hampstead.

I'm refinancing my existing house to a BTL loan with Virgin Money and I will use the rest of the raised equity as a deposit on a second house. The neighborhood we are looking at is West Hampstead. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of mortgage companies and tie in the transactions?

Do use our comparison tool on this page to be sure that the solicitors are on the relevant lender panels. Assuming that they are the lawyer should be able to connect the two transactions but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make clear your expectations and requirements.

I inherited a ground floor flat in West Hampstead. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?

if there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a West Hampstead property is Flat A 372 Cricklewood Lane in January 2013. The Tribunal decided that the premium for the extended lease should be £5,750.00 and that the terms of the new lease should be those set out in annex to the decsion This case was in relation to 1 flat.

Are there frequently found problems that you encounter in leases for West Hampstead properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in West Hampstead is not unique. All leases are drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.