I had a mortgage agreed in principle with Yorkshire BS. Aylesbury conveyancing lawyers have been selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Yorkshire BS?

Some lenders take longer than others. Have Yorkshire BS completed the valuation? Have you informed Yorkshire BS as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

I'm spending time viewing flats in Aylesbury and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a home loan with Santander.

You should start requesting conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the selling agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Santander, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Santander conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

After what feels like an age I have had an offer on a flat in Aylesbury accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on a flat, however it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other apartments booked. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Aylesbury. What should be my next step? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland?

It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, Aylesbury conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your lawyer is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Concerning the next steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot market some purchasers will apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their conveyancer to move forward with searches.

A relative advised me that if I am purchasing in Aylesbury I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your Aylesbury conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Aylesbury 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 type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Aylesbury Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Aylesbury.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Aylesbury with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my solicitor about this deal as it would affect my loan with the lender. 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a quick, no chain conveyancing. Aylesbury is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can impart?

Flying freeholds in Aylesbury are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Aylesbury you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Aylesbury may ascertain 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 premises.

My wife and I are buying a first floor flat in Aylesbury. At the time of instructing our lawyer, they told us that they were on all major UK lender panels. Our financial adviser called just now to advise that they are not on the Nottingham approved list. Were it to be true, what should we do? Do we just pick a new solicitor that is on their panel or do we cover the costs for dual representation, with Nottingham selecting their own preferred property lawyer.

If you are acquiring a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the buyer’s solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the conveyancer has to satisfy. Some banks now insist their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact Nottingham and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on Nottingham's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Aylesbury solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.