Our son is purchasing a new build apartment in Malmesbury with a home loan from Santander. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?

The form 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 Santander conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked. 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 Santander conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

My lawyer has informed me that lack of building regulations insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Malmesbury conveyancing?

The right level of lack of building regulations indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

I have a mortgage with HSBC for my property in Malmesbury. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform HSBC?

You must advise HSBC in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of HSBC’s mortgage conditions. It may be that HSBC will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact HSBC directly. You need not do this via a HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor.

I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Malmesbury. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £150. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Principality conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Principality panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

Should commercial conveyancing searches reveal impending roadworks that could affect a commercial premises in Malmesbury?

Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Malmesbury will conduct a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers expend in sourcing accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Malmesbury. The search result provides definitive information on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Malmesbury.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Malmesbury it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can cause delays to Malmesbury commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not carried out for residential conveyancing in Malmesbury.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Malmesbury with a loan from Halifax. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about this deal as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. 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 am looking for a conveyancing solicitor in Malmesbury for my house move. Can I review a solicitor's record with the profession’s regulator?

Anyone may review presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations resulting from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's record, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For non-uk callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could recorded telephone calls for training requirements.