I am assisting my mother sell her flat in Locks Heath. Does the solicitor order an energy assessment or it is for the owner to coordinate?

Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy assessments was left as a required component of selling a house. An EPC should be to hand before the property is marketed. It is not something that conveyancers normally organise. If you are instructing a Locks Heath conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy assessments due to their relationships with reputable local assessors

We previously selected conveyancers based in Locks Heath on the Bank of Ireland solicitor panel. They are now charging me a supplemental sum for the legal aspects of the Bank of Ireland mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Bank of Ireland?

Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer may charge a fee for this. This charge is not set by Bank of Ireland but by your Locks Heath conveyancing practitioner. Numerous firms on the Bank of Ireland panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but many firms include it on their overall fee.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Locks Heath property lawyer on the Skipton panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Skipton mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Skipton mortgage from the register. Skipton, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Skipton has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Skipton has instructed the Land Registry to do so

We are selling our house in Locks Heath and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being constructed on contaminated land. A high street Locks Heath lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Locks Heath. Having lived in Locks Heath for six years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get clarification need.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor already. What do they say? You should check with 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 illness)

I am buying a new build house in Locks Heath with a mortgage from Bank of Scotland. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about this extras as it will adversely affect my loan with Bank of Scotland. 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 opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Locks Heath ahead of retaining lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some banks will not grant a loan on such a premises.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different requirements from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Locks Heath. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Locks Heath especially if they are familiar with such properties in Locks Heath.

How do I search for a Locks Heath solicitor on the Nationwide Building Society conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am willing to travel upto 10miles to meet the conveyancer.

You can use the facility on this page. Please pick a bank and your location and you will see a number of Locks Heath conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Locks Heath conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can call them to verify whether they are on the Nationwide Building Society approved list