Well, the conveyancer that we used to buy the house, and who has the deeds, has said that it should be easy, provided it is straightforward. He said we could grant him PoA if it got tricky, but I reckon it would be cheaper to have my mum or sister do it. Both have had PoA for other family members in the past so it's not unknown to them.
The worst thing was the shock of our mortgage revaluation. We'd let the house out 3 years ago when we left the UK and got a bargain of a mortgage at that time. That product is now coming to an end and they're forcing me onto another buy-to-let product that increases our mortgage payments by 400 quid a month!!
: The rent would cover this, but wouldn't leave much left over in case things go wrong. And as DH says, we're not planning on going back to the UK, and if we did we probably wouldn't move back to Derby anyway! So why hang onto it? I guess I'm just thinking that any foot on the property ladder is a good foot! But having said that, if we've got the equity released, we're in a good position when it comes time to buy over here.
Will keep you posted.