My husband and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Brymbo with Nationwide. 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 forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Nationwide conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 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 Nationwide 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 Nationwide. This is solely used to protect Nationwide 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 Nationwide 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.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Brymbo. 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 few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Brymbo

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Please supply a car parking plan. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Brymbo I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 61 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Brymbo in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?

If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Brymbo. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Brymbo Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Plenty Brymbo leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the management company. Where you buy the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually periodically during the year. This can be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, normally this is not a large sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive. It would be sensible to discover if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example it is very common in Brymbo leases that pets are not allowed in in a block in Brymbo. If you like the flatin Brymbo but your cat can’t move with you then you will be presented with a difficult compromise. How many years are left on the lease?

My brother-in-law has suggested I instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Brymbo. I I would like to check if they are listed on the lender's approved list of lawyers. Can you or the bank confirm if they are on the panel?

It’s a good idea contact your lawyer to check if they are on the bank's approved list. If that does not help call us and we can make some checks for you. Should the firm not be on the conveyancing panel we we can help find a quality conveyancing solicitor in Brymbo on the approved list for your lender.