I just bought a house at auction in Covent Garden. Conveyancing is necessary. What is next?

Now that you are exchanged you will need to find a conveyancing practitioner quickly as you are faced with a tight deadline in which to complete the purchase. All auction property will ordinarily have a bespoke legal pack. This will likely include most,if not all of the paperwork that your conveyancer requires. If you have purchased leasehold premises the legal pack may include a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork specific to a leasehold property. You must hand this to the lawyer instructed by you as soon as possible. Do make sure that you have funds organised to complete the transaction on the set completion date.

I'm spending time viewing apartments in Covent Garden and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a mortgage with Nationwide.

You should start requesting conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the estate agent. Given that you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Covent Garden. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?

Almost all banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.

Will our solicitor be raising questions about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Covent Garden.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers dealing with homes in Covent Garden. There are those who purchase a property in Covent Garden, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Solicitors are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various searches that may be initiated by the purchaser or by their solicitors which will figure out the risks in Covent Garden. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a standard question of the seller to determine whether the premises has suffered from flooding. If the premises has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the seller, then a purchaser could issue a claim for damages as a result of such an incorrect reply. The purchaser’s solicitors should also carry out an environmental report. This should reveal if there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed investigations should be carried out.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in Covent Garden I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Covent Garden suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.

Given that I am about to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a terraced house in Covent Garden I would like to talk to a lawyer about myhouse move before instructing the firm. Can this be arranged?

This is something that we recommend - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the conveyancer due to be doing your conveyancing in Covent Garden.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is unique person, not a matter number. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are quoted for your conveyancing in Covent Garden should be the amount on the final invoice that you end up paying.

Is there a reason that Covent Garden conveyancing costs are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?

If acquiring a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control