My wife and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Birchington with . We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right 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 . This is solely used to protect 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 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.

Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Birchington costs more?

The conveyancing charges on a leasehold premises in Birchington is frequently higher as compared to a freehold property. This is because there is an amount of extra work required in corresponding with the landlord and management company to collate the information concerning whether the rent and maintenance charges have been cleared and whether there are any significant expenditure in the near future on repairs or maintenance of the block.

Is it the case that all Birchington solicitor firms on the conveyancing panel are regulated by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

I can not fathom if my bank requires a lease extension. I have called into my local Birchington building society branch on numerous occasions and was advised it wasn't a problem and they would lend. My Birchington conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply don't know who is right.

Your must follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook section two provisions for your bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years left on the lease.

My offer was accepted on a property in Birchington on , valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the conveyancing panel. Are entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

About to purchase a new build apartment in Birchington. Conveyancing is a frightening process 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 may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Birchington

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. 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.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Birchington. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have recently had a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you clear the maintenance contribution as you normally would given that all rents and maintenance charges should be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Birchington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Is there a share of the freehold? The majority of Birchington leasehold flats will have a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the management company. Should you acquire the property you will have to pay this amount, normally periodically during the year. This may differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a large sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.