My grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Lower Clapton. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Coventry BS, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?

Where you intend to re-mortgage then Coventry BS will require that you use a conveyancer on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Coventry BS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Coventry BS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

Various web forums that I have frequented warn that are the primary reason for stalling in Lower Clapton conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Lower Clapton.

The deeds to my house can not be found. The solicitors who handled the conveyancing in Lower Clapton 5 years ago are no longer around. What are my options?

These day there are copies made of almost everything, and your conveyancer will know precisely where to look for all the relevant paperwork so you may purchase or sell your house without a hitch. If duplicates are not available, your conveyancer can arrange cover in the form of insurance or indemnities against future claims on the premises.

I'm buying my first flat in Lower Clapton benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my loan with Clydesdale. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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 have been pointed in your direction by a number of property agents in Lower Clapton to choose a property lawyer on your site. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to promote your site over alternative conveyancing organisations?

We don’t give any financial incentive for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.