My husband and I are buying a newly constructed flat in Tonbridge and my solicitor is advising me that she is duty bound to the bank to reveal incentives from the seller. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and I don't want to prolong the conveyancing. 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 lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. 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 grandmother passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Tonbridge. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Clydesdale, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Given you plan to refinance then Clydesdale will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Clydesdale mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Tonbridge. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Tonbridge

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

I opted to have a survey carried out on a property in Tonbridge in advance of appointing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor has said that some lenders will refuse to grant a loan on this type of house.

It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Tonbridge. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Tonbridge to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Tonbridge. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Tonbridge ?

Most houses in Tonbridge are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Tonbridge so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Tonbridge conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer will report to you on the legal implications.