My fiance and I are refinancing our penthouse in New Eltham with Yorkshire BS. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify 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, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS. This is solely used to protect Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS 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.

As someone clueless as to the New Eltham conveyancing process what’s the number one tip you can impart concerning the ownership transfer in New Eltham

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in New Eltham or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for conflict between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For instance, the vendor, property agent and even potentially a lender. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in New Eltham should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the transaction whose responsibility is to protect your legal interests and to protect you.

There is a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be blamed for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you must always trust your conveyancer ahead of the other parties in the home moving process.

Should my conveyancer be raising enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in New Eltham.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers dealing with homes in New Eltham. Plenty of people will acquire a house in New Eltham, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the property. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Lawyers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that may be undertaken by the purchaser or by their solicitors which will figure out the risks in New Eltham. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard question of the owner to determine whether the premises has historically flooded. If flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the owner, then a buyer could commence a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate reply. A buyer’s lawyers should also conduct an environmental search. This should indicate if there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be made.

I'm buying my first flat in New Eltham with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not to tell my conveyancer about the deal as it may affect my mortgage with Platform Home Loans Ltd. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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 am thinking of appointing a conveyancing lawyer in New Eltham for my remortgage. Is it possible to check a solicitor's record with the profession’s regulator?

Members of the public may find published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from investigations from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors history, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. International callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA sometimes recorded telephone calls for training requirements.