I was recommended to a solicitor who has quoted £1350 for fixed fee conveyancing in Archway. I’m looking to sell a modern house for £275,000. Are these conveyancing fees excessive? Is it in excess of the norm for conveyancing in Archway?

The charges are a little high. If you shop around you could trim some of the cost by say £125. On the other hand, you couldcome to regret opting for an a cheaper lawyer. Remember to be sure the solicitor can represent your lender. Do make use of our search tool to select a Archway conveyancing company on the lender’s member panel which can often include conveyancing solicitors in Archway.

My wife and I swapping mortgage lender for our flat in Archway with Santander. We have a son 18 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Santander had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to have this when buying a residence in Archway? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that homeowners residing in a parish church boundary will be compelled to contribute towards repairs towards the chancel within the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in Archway?

Unless a prior acquisition of the premises took place post 12 October 2013 you may take it that conveyancing practitioners delivering conveyancing in Archway to continue to recommend a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.

I'm buying my first flat in Archway with a mortgage from Skipton Building Society. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my conveyancer about the deal as it would adversely 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.

I acquired a flat in Archway last 16/7/2024 and to date it is still not registered with HMLR. It is part of a development site and my solicitor told me that it can take twelve months to complete the registration formalities. I have spoken with the Land Registry directly and they say that the original application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Should I be concerned?

It is your conveyancing practitioner that you must get in touch with in order to satisfy any issues which have arisen as part of the registration process for your Archway property. Normal Archway conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the vendor’s solicitor that they will assist in resolving any registration raised by HMLR so it may be a case of taking action to enforce that undertaking if necessary.