My relative suggested that where I am purchasing in Merseyside I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Merseyside conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Merseyside around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Merseyside Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Merseyside.

The deeds to my house can not be found. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in Merseyside 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my options?

Gone are the days when you need to have the physical original deeds to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or property, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

I am purchasing a new build house in Merseyside with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not reveal to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it could jeopardize my loan with the bank. 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Merseyside is the location of the property. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in Merseyside are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Merseyside you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Merseyside may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.

What tools are available to search for a Merseyside law firm on the HSBC Bank conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am willing to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the conveyancer.

You can use the facility on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of Merseyside conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Merseyside conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can call them to verify if they are on the HSBC Bank approved list