My partner and I are refinancing our flat in Godalming with Skipton. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 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 apartment is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Skipton conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 3 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 Skipton. This is solely used to protect Skipton 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 Skipton 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 see that you have a post code search directory listing solicitors on the RBS conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Godalming?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the RBS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Godalming.
A friend advised me that if I am purchasing in Godalming I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Godalming conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Godalming around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Godalming.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Godalming is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Godalming are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Godalming you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Godalming may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I have been recommended by two or three local property agents in Godalming to get a quote from a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to recommend your site ahead of a competitor’s?
We refuse to make any referral fee for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.