My wife and I are purchasing a newly constructed apartment in Stoke Poges and my conveyancer is telling me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to reveal incentives from the developer. I am under pressure to sign contracts and I would rather not delay matters. is my lawyer playing by the book?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

My apartment in Stoke Poges is up for sale and I have a buyer. Will my conveyancer have to be required to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently in recent years.

Please help - my lawyer advises that lack of right of way insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Stoke Poges conveyancing?

The appropriate level of lack of right of way indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Lloyds TSB Bank and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Stoke Poges. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.

About to purchase flat in Stoke Poges. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Stoke Poges conveyancing practitioner is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.

Are there common defects that you witness in leases for Stoke Poges properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Stoke Poges. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Yorkshire Building Society, Coventry Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Stoke Poges Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Make sure you find out if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example some leases prohibit pets being allowed in in a block in Stoke Poges. If you like the propertyin Stoke Poges however your cat can’t live with you then you will be presented with a hard determination. For most Stoke Poges leaseholds the outlay for major works are not wrapped into the maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Stoke Poges obliged leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance. Most Stoke Poges leasehold flats will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building set by the management company. If you acquire the property you will have to pay this amount, usually in instalments throughout the year. This could vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to enquire as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.

When it comes to my conveyancing in Stoke Poges should I be paying VAT on the following: (1) Land reg fee on purchase (2) Pre - completion search fee (3) SDLT E submission on purchase (4) Bank TT fee

(1) Land reg fee on purchase - No (2) Pre - completion search fees -No, (such conveyancing searches are HMLR ones and means £4 and possibly £2 bankruptcy per name on your mortgage) (3) SDLT E submission on your purchase - There is no VAT on Stamp Duty. However if the firm is charging a stamp duty e-submission fee as part of their services - some Stoke Poges conveyancers do - that will incur VAT(4) Bank transfer fee - Yes it is for the conveyancing practitioner's time in submitting the funds this way.