My best friend’s dad is a solicitor. I hope that I can be offered friends and family pricing for conveyancing, but if not, what level of costs should I be expecting for conveyancing in Bourne End?

You should contrast pricing. Make use of our search tool on this site. You will notice that quotes seem to vary but service levels do are distinct between property lawyers as is true with most professions.

I am purchasing a property mortgage free in Bourne End. I have resided for the last twelve years in Bourne End. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. As I have knowledge of the area and road intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Bourne End conveyancing searches are optional. Your conveyancer will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but he is duty bound to take that path of advice. One thing to take into account; if you are likely to dispose of the house at a future date, it will likely be be of interest to your prospective buyer what the searches contain. There are plenty of instances where houses with day to day issues can still throw up unexpected search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Bourne End should be able to give you some sensible advice in this regard.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Bourne End last September yet the purchaser is SMS messaging daily to say her lawyer needs to hear from mine. What should have happened following completion?

Following your sale your lawyer should forward the transfer documentation and all additional paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Where relevant, your lawyer should also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been repaid to the buyers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion steps peculiar conveyancing in Bourne End.

Should our solicitor be making enquiries about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Bourne End.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers dealing with homes in Bourne End. There are those who acquire a house in Bourne End, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Conveyancers are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, but there are a number of checks that may be initiated by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Bourne End. The standard completed inquiry forms given to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) includes a standard inquiry of the vendor to determine if the premises has historically flooded. If the residence has been flooded in past and is not notified by the vendor, then a buyer could bring a legal claim for losses as a result of such an incorrect reply. A purchaser’s solicitors should also carry out an enviro search. This will indicate whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further investigations should be made.

3 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Bourne End took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 premises 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.