My wife and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in New Barnet with Kent Reliance. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights 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 Kent Reliance. This is solely used to protect Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.

We're in New Barnet, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Co-operative , and our lawyer is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?

The fact that your lawyer is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.

I need some quick conveyancing in New Barnet as I have pressure to complete within 4 weeks. A home loan is not required. Can I escape the need for conveyancing searches to save money and time?

As you are are a mortgage free purchaser you have the choice not to do searches although no law firm would advise that you don't. With plenty of history conveyancing in New Barnet the following are examples of issues that can show up and adversely affect the marketability of the property: Refused Planning Applications, Overdue Charges, Outstanding Grants, Unadopted Roads,...

I'm purchasing my first flat in New Barnet benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my conveyancer about this deal as it will affect my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I work for a busy estate agency in New Barnet where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local New Barnet conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in New Barnet. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?

in cases where 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 you can apply to the LVT to determine the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a New Barnet residence is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.