I am obtaining a offer of a home loan from Santander. I would like to instruct a Licensed Conveyancer in Crawley. Does the Santander Solicitor panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?

The Santander conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, associated to the CML or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.

I am purchasing my first flat in Crawley benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The estate agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about the deal as it would adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £305k and found one round the corner in Crawley I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Crawley suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Crawley. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I purchased a split level flat in Crawley, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Crawley with a long lease are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2088

With just 63 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £16,200 and £18,600 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

A conveyancing company dealt with my conveyancing in Crawley four years past and was holding my registration certificates but has now closed – What can I do to get hold of these?

Title deeds, as such, no longer exist as most homes in Crawley are recorded electronically at Land Registry. Should you need to prove ownership or are selling or re-mortgaging your solicitor will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.

If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.