Our son is buying a new build apartment in Durham with a mortgage from Santander. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving 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 purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Santander conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. 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 Santander conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

2 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Durham took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I am buying my first flat in Durham with a mortgage from Coventry Building Society. The sellers would not move on the price so I negotiated 6k of additionals instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the side-deal as it may adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

What makes a Durham lease unacceptable for security purposes?

Leasehold conveyancing in Durham is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Leeds Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Durham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying

The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is often employed where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Who are the managing agents? Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the tenants?

I am thinking of choosing an online property lawyer as opposed to a Durham conveyancing firm. Should I ‘stay local’?

Various benefits exist in having the opportunity to pop in to a local Durham conveyancing solicitor for example

• signing documents and and when necessary
• getting one on one explanations of things you don't understand
• the ability to raise concerns if things are not going as expected

When checking estimates, look carefully for hidden extras. Most decent Durham high street solicitors give an all-inclusive figure. Often online companies seem to offer low cost fees, yet have burried 'extras' in the small print.