Our grandson is about to exchange on a new build apartment in Aylesford with a home loan from Aldermore. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?

The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Aldermore conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

My Conveyancer in Aylesford is not on the Skipton Building Society Conveyancing Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Skipton Building Society panel?

Your options are as follows:

1. Complete the purchase with your preferred Aylesford lawyers but Skipton Building Society will need to instruct a solicitor on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees as well as cause frustration.
2. Get an alternative practitioner to act in the purchase, not forgetting to check they are on the Skipton Building Society panel

I am looking for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and found one round the corner in Aylesford I like with open areas and railway links nearby, however it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Aylesford for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?

Should you require a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.

In my capacity as executor for the will of my grandfather I am disposing of a house in Monmouth but I am based in Aylesford. My lawyer (who is 260 miles from merequires that I sign a stat dec prior to completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing practitioner in Aylesford who can attest this legal document for me?

strictly speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Aylesford based

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Aylesford. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Aylesford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying

What prohibitions are there in the Aylesford Lease? Plenty Aylesford leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you purchase the property you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically during the year. This may differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds. Make sure you discover if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Aylesford. If you like the propertyin Aylesford however your dog can’t move with you then you will be presented with a hard compromise.