The Dunston conveyancing firm handling our Dunston conveyancing has identified a difference between the surveyor’s assumptions in the home valuation report and what is in the legal papers for the property. My lawyer says that he is duty bound to check that the lender is OK with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my conveyancer’s stance legitimate?

Your property lawyer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.

I have recentlydiscovered that Stirling Law have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in Dunston for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I check that my home is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest method to see if the property is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Dunston conveyancing specialists.

I'm buying a new build house in Dunston with a mortgage from The Royal Bank of Scotland. The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent told me not inform my conveyancer about this extras as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. 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 leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and found one near me in Dunston I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 51 years on the lease. There is not much else in Dunston suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?

Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to 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 speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.

I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the bank conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the mortgage company approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?

Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.