My colleague advised me that if I am buying in West Croydon I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard West Croydon conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about West Croydon around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the West Croydon Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, West Croydon Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning West Croydon.

I have justdiscovered that Stirling Law have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in West Croydon for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I be sure that the property is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?

The quickest method to see if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of West Croydon conveyancing specialists.

I'm purchasing a new build house in West Croydon with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not to tell my solicitor about this deal as it could affect my mortgage 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.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in West Croydon in advance of instructing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor advised that some banks tend not issue a mortgage on a flying freehold home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements from Nationwide. If you contact us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in West Croydon. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

My wife and I plan to acquire our 1st home in West Croydon. Conveyancing solicitor already instructed. The mortgage adviser suggested that a survey is not needed as the property was only built in 2001.

At the very least you should have a Home Buyer's Report. As the premises was built over a decade ago the property will be without a warranty, so you don't want to take a risk. For a property that age with no signs of problems a Home Buyer's report could be enough. They will highlight any obvious issues and suggest additional investigation if appropriate. Where there are any signs of problems get a full structural survey.