I'm purchasing a new build house in Chepstow benefiting from help to buy. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about this deal as it would affect my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 decided to have a survey completed on a property in Chepstow prior to retaining lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to give a mortgage on such a premises.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can investigate further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Chepstow. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Chepstow to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.

My husband and I are first time buyers - agreed a price, yet the estate agent told us that the vendor will only move forward if we appoint the agent's recommended solicitors as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local solicitor who is familiar with conveyancing in Chepstow

We suspect that the seller is unaware of this demand. Should the vendor desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated buyer is counter productive. Bypass the agents and go straight to the owners and explain that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you intend to instruct your preferred Chepstow conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will provide their negotiator at the agency a commission or achieve conveyancing thresholds demanded by senior management.

Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Chepstow. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Chepstow - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

I invested in buying a 1 bedroom flat in Chepstow, conveyancing having been completed in 2007. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Chepstow with an extended lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2085

With just 60 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £20,000 and £23,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

My wife and I are acquiring a first floor flat in Chepstow. When we first instructed lawyer, they said that they were on all major UK lender panels. Our mortgage broker called just now to say that they are not on the Yorkshire BS approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Should we simply choose a new conveyancer that is on their approved list or should we pay for separate representation, with Yorkshire BS selecting their own approved conveyancer.

When acquiring a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the buyer’s solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a conveyancer has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the conveyancer to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the solicitor has to satisfy. Some building societies now insist their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact Yorkshire BS to find out if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on Yorkshire BS's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Chepstow lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.