Leave it to me!
Q. I rent a cottage. The landlord’s father died recently and I’m told by a relative of his that his will may have contained a reference to the property. Is it possible to obtain a copy of his will from any source?
A. Once probate has been granted the contents of a will become public property and anyone can obtain a copy, either from the deceased’s local probate registry or from the postal searches and copies department in York. If it turns out the father was the owner of the property (ie the son wasn’t really the landlord but only his father’s agent) you will have to deal with a new landlord, namely the father’s executors. If the father’s will gives the property to a beneficiary then, at the point where the property is transferred out of the estate into the name of the beneficiary, you will have to deal with that beneficiary as the new landlord. Whether you will have to leave the property depends on the type of tenancy you have: if it is a protected tenancy under the Rent Acts you will continue to have security of tenure. By contrast, if you have an assured shorthold tenancy the new landlord will be able to regain possession of the property at the point where the fixed term specified in the tenancy agreement expires.

Three in a row
Q. I have a row of three garages. One of them adjoins another property where the owners have a right of way and the right to use it at a very low rent. What would be my position if I wanted to sell the three garages?
A. It’s not clear what rights the adjoining owners have, and how they came to acquire them. You would have to take the relevant documents to a solicitor for a definitive answer. It’s possible you own the land and they have a long lease on the garage plot. In that case you could perhaps sell the freehold. But a right of way over land tends to devalue it.

Under the hammer
Q. I put my house on the market after a court hearing with my ex-wife. There was a further application to reduce the asking price, and now my ex-wife is applying for the house to be put up for sale by auction. Is there anything I can do to stop this? My wife is living with another man and has recently come into an inheritance although she is still claiming benefits and gets legal aid.
A. Your ex-wife’s current circumstances have little bearing on what was initially decided in court when you divided up your assets on divorce. If she is living with another man it may ultimately affect any maintenance payments you make; and when she receives her share of the proceeds from the sale of the house she may not only lose any entitlement to benefits she may have but she will also presumably have to pay back her legal aid. If you wish to contest the application for your house to be sold at auction you should see a solicitor. Whether you will be successful will no doubt depend on how long it has been on the market among other things.

Rude awakening
Q. I opened an account with a building society 15 years ago. I was assured that it was for people who were not too confident with money matters. Then last week I heard the account was dormant and the government would be requesting the building society to hand over the balance as an unclaimed asset! The amount in the account has doubled, but I had hoped it would have trebled. At no time did they ever contact me.
A. Under the government’s Unclaimed Assets scheme any account which has remained untouched for 15 years can be regarded as dormant. However your account has continued to earn interest. Whether you could have earned more interest elsewhere is another question, but, under the Banking Code, the building society isn’t obliged to notify you personally when interest rates change as long as it advertises the change in branches and the newspapers. You can pick up a copy of the code from the branch of any bank.

Form-filling
Q. We want to buy the freehold to our property. The owner has agreed to sell, and says we can do it without using a solicitor as long as we have the relevant form. The trouble is, no one seems to know what this form is. Can you help?
A. You are presumably referring to Land Registry transfer and application forms. However I’m not sure this is something you should embark on without a solicitor’s help. You will benefit from a solicitor’s advice in negotiating the price, and you should really involve a lawyer to check that you’re buying what you think you’re buying. The process of buying your freehold is very similar to the one you (or your solicitor) went through to purchase the lease on your property in the first place, and it may be complicated.