I sincerely hope you can assist me. My Buckingham conveyancer is advising me that he has toapply for Buckingham conveyancing searches asthe firm are on the HSBCsolicitor panel. Is my lawyer correct?

Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. Given that you are taking out a loan with a lender your solicitor has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Buckingham conveyancing searches.

Should lawyers request money up-front for conveyancing in Buckingham?

If you are buying a property in Buckingham your lawyer will ask you to provide them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. If any deposit is as part of the sale price then this will be needed immediately in advance of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is needed will be payable shortly before completion.

A colleague advised me that if I am buying in Buckingham I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Buckingham conveyancing searches. It is a large report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Buckingham around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Buckingham Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Buckingham.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Buckingham and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Buckingham. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Buckingham area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Buckingham. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Buckingham what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Buckingham is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Insurance obligations

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Buckingham - A selection of Queries before buying

Does the lease have in excess of 85 years unexpired? Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Buckingham require leasehold owners to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for major works. Best to be warned if redecorating or some other major work is anticipated that will be shared by the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance charges or necessitate a specific payment.