My fiance and I are refinancing our maisonette in Fradley with Aldermore. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults 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 property is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Aldermore conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Aldermore 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 Aldermore. This is solely used to protect Aldermore 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 Aldermore 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.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Fradley. My lender is The Mortgage Works
The Mortgage Works have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 15/2/2025, the requirements read as follows :
I am helping my niece sell her property in Fradley. Will the conveyancing solicitor arrange an energy assessment or should I organise this?
Following the demise of HIPs, energy performance certificates remained a mandatory part of moving house. An energy performance certificate should be to hand prior to the property being put on the market. It is not something that solicitors normally organise. If you are instructing a Fradley conveyancing practitioner they might be willing to arrange energy performance certificates given their relationships with reputable Fradley providers
The mortgage over my property is with UBS for my property in Fradley. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform UBS?
UBS must be informed of your intention prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of UBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that UBS will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact UBS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a UBS conveyancing panel firm.
I can not fathom if my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Fradley bank branch on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they will lend. My Fradley conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- called to say that they refuse to lend in accordance with their UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply don't know who is right.
Your conveyancer has to comply with the CML Handbook section two conditions for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
I was advised by a number of property agents in Fradley to locate a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to recommend your site ahead of another?
We refuse to offer any commission for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years remaining on my lease in Fradley. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?
On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Fradley.
I inherited a ground floor flat in Fradley, conveyancing was carried out May 2006. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Equivalent flats in Fradley with a long lease are worth £180,000. The ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2084
With only 59 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £20,900 and £24,200 plus legals.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.
Are there any apps to help find a Fradley conveyancing solicitor on the bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 15miles to attend the solicitor.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this website. Please choose the lender and your location, in this case Fradley and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest Fradley. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the bank solicitor panel.