My wife and I purchasing a 3 bedroom semi in Oldham. The intention is to convert the garage to a playroom at the property.Will legal due diligence on the property include enquiries to ascertain if these works are allowed?

Your conveyancer should review the deeds as conveyancing in Oldham will on occasion identify restrictions in the title documents which prohibit certain changes or need the permission of another owner. Some additions require local authority planning consent and approval under the building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or impact extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.

My lawyer has informed me that flying freehold insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Oldham conveyancing?

The appropriate level of flying freehold indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Birmingham Midshires and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

My offer was accepted on an apartment in Oldham on 6/11/2024, valuation was booked 3 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Lloyds and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Are Lloyds entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Lloyds to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I am buying a house and the lawyer has mentioned Chancel Repair to which the house could be obligated to contribute to as it falls into the area of such a church. He has suggested insurance. Is this strictly necessary for conveyancing in Oldham

Unless a previous acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you may expect conveyancing practitioners delivering conveyancing in Oldham to remain recommending a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.

I am purchasing my first flat in Oldham benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it may impact my mortgage with Skipton Building Society. 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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Oldham is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Oldham are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Oldham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Oldham may decide 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.

My father-in-law has recommend that I use his conveyancers in Oldham. Should I use them?

No doubt the ideal way to select a conveyancing lawyer is to get recommendations from friends or family who have experience in using the conveyancer you're considering.