My father informed me that in purchasing a property in Shirebrook there may be various restrictions prohibiting external changes to a property. Is this right?

There are anumerous of properties in Shirebrook which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Shirebrook should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I'm the only recipient of my late father’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Shirebrook. The Shirebrook property was put into my name in January. I want to move. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership will be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in January. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The CML handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. Most banks would take a pragmatic view as this obligation primarily exists to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.

Is it the case that all Shirebrook CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing list of approved practices?

It is true that some banks and building societies now use CQS as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.

A colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in Shirebrook I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Shirebrook conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Shirebrook around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Shirebrook.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Shirebrook?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Shirebrook. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

I am buying my first flat in Shirebrook with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this side-deal as it would affect my loan with the lender. 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.

Jane (my partner) and I may need to let out our Shirebrook 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Shirebrook conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

The lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Shirebrook do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Shirebrook - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders have control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently retained if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Who is in charge of the building? For many Shirebrook leaseholds the outlay for major works are not wrapped into the maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Shirebrook ask leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major works.