My husband and I changing mortgage lender for our apartment in Cobham with . We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 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 a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 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.

What will a local search tell me regarding the house we're purchasing in Cobham?

Cobham conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for instance Searches UK The local search plays an important role in many a Cobham conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any unpleasant surprises after you move into your property. The search should supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic headings.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Cobham. Conveyancing is necessary evil 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 conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cobham

If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. 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. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Cobham ahead of appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a mortgage on a flying freehold house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can check via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Cobham. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Cobham to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

Am I better off to instruct a Cobham conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can perform the legal formalities however his firm is located approximately 350kilometers away.

The primary upside of using a local Cobham conveyancing practice is that you can drop in to execute paperwork, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and they were happy that should outweigh using an unknown Cobham conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.