My husband and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Winkleigh with RBS. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. 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 document specific to the RBS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this extinguish 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 RBS. This is solely used to protect RBS 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 RBS 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.

I just acquired a flat at auction in Winkleigh. Conveyancing is needed. What is next?

Given that you have now legally bound yourself to purchase you will need to find a conveyancing lawyer soon as you will have a tight deadline in which to complete the deal. An auction property should have a corresponding auction set of papers. This will include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. Where you are dealing with leasehold premises the legal pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing paperwork relating to leasehold premises. You must pass this on to the conveyancer instructed by you ASAP. You also need to ensure that you have funds in order to complete on the date specified in the contract.

We had chosen solicitors based in Winkleigh on the HSBC solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a separate amount for handling the HSBC mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by HSBC?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancer can levy a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by HSBC but by your Winkleigh lawyer. Some firms on the HSBC panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.

I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Winkleigh off the council. I have a mortgage agreed with Nottingham. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Nottingham, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one near me in Winkleigh I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Winkleigh suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?

If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.

We are 14 days into a leasehold purchase having been directed to conveyancers by the selling agent to execute conveyancing in Winkleigh. We are not happy. Could you help me find new conveyancers?

They would have to be very poor in order to consider replacing them. Has your mortgage been sent? If so you must advise them of the new contact details and have the mortgage documents are re-sent. The solicitor ideally should be on the banks approved list to avoid supplemental expenses and delays. So that should be your starting point. The search tool should help you find a lender approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in Winkleigh

I am expecting to exchange on the purchase a property in Winkleigh but as a consequence of wreckage from the recent storms I have agreed reparation from the owner of five thousand pounds in the form of a adjustment in the price. This was going to be addressed as part of the conveyancing process yet the mortgage company will not permit this. Should they have been involved?

Any conveyancing practitioner listed on a lender conveyancing panel is duty bound to advise the bank of any variations to the sale figure. If you did not allow your conveyancing practitioner to disclose the reduction to your bank then they would have to disinstructing themselves from acting for you and the lender.