Please help. My Cuckfield conveyancer is informing me me that he has toapply for Cuckfield conveyancing searches becausethe firm are on the HSBCsolicitor panel. Is my lawyer correct?

You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a mortgage company your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Cuckfield conveyancing searches.

My wife and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our home in Cuckfield and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. Any high street Cuckfield conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a nationwide conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Cuckfield. Having lived in Cuckfield for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get clarification that the buyers are looking for.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same ailment)

I'm buying my first flat in Cuckfield benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The estate agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it will affect my loan with the lender. 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 am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and found one close by in Cuckfield I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Cuckfield for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer concerning this.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Cuckfield where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Cuckfield conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Cuckfield - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Its a good idea to find out as much as you can about the company managing the building as they will either make life much easier or much more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day matters such as the tidiness of the common parts. Enquire of other tenants what they think of their management. On a final note, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the relevant party and precisely what you get for your money. Please note that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have owned the property for two years before you are legally able to extend the lease. Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the block?