My god-son is about to exchange on a newly built flat in St Mary Cray with a home loan from Clydesdale. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?

The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. 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 Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

Completed the sale of my flat in St Mary Cray last May yet the purchaser is Skype messaging every few hours complaining that their lawyer is waiting to hear from mylawyer. What should have happened following completion?

After completion of your sale your solicitor is obliged to send the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor should also evidence that the home loan has been discharged to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion tasks unique to conveyancing in St Mary Cray.

Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in St Mary Cray. My lender is Accord Mortgages

Accord Mortgages have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 13/12/2024, the requirements read as follows :

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. St Mary Cray is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can impart?

Flying freeholds in St Mary Cray 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 St Mary Cray you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Mary Cray may ascertain 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 residence.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in St Mary Cray. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

After months of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St Mary Cray. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Mary Cray property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 50.57 years.