My husband and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Ratcliff and are in fact using a Ratcliff conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Ratcliff lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ratcliff solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Ratcliff costs more?

In short, leasehold conveyancing in Ratcliff and elsewhere usually warrants more hours of investigation compared to freehold conveyancing. This includes reviewing the lease, liaising with the landlord concerning serving required notices, securing current service charge and management information, procuring the landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts. The obligations on both the landlord and the tenant in the lease need to be studied by the buyer’s conveyancing team and read from beginning to end – regardless of the fact the lease has passed through many different property solicitors hands since it was first entered into.

I am purchasing a new build house in Ratcliff with a loan from HSBC Bank. The sellers would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not reveal to my lawyer about the side-deal as it may affect my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 on the look out for a ground for flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Ratcliff I like with open areas and transport links nearby, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Ratcliff in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a home loan that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in Ratcliff. I happened to discover a web site which seems to have the perfect solution If there is a chance to get all the legals done via email that would be ideal. Should I be concerned? What should out be looking out for?

As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?