We are purchasing our first house. Our property lawyer has e-mailedto see if we wish to order supplemental conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's recommended for conveyancing in Grahame Park

The type of Grahame Park conveyancing searches depends primarily on the property, the location, the probability of any of these risks, your knowledge of the region and risks, your general approach to risk. What is important is that you properly comprehend what information each search could provide. Then you can decide if you consider that you need that search. Where you are unsure, ask the property lawyer to provide guidance.

I am helping my niece sell her flat in Grahame Park. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission an energy assessment or should I organise this?

Following the abolition of HIPs, energy performance certificates was maintained a required part of selling a property. An energy assessment needs to be commissioned prior to the property being put on the market. This is not something that law firms ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Grahame Park conveyancing practitioner they may be willing to arrange energy assessments given their relationships with long established Grahame Park assessors

Can you point me to a directory of Leeds Building Society panel conveyancers in Grahame Park on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?

No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few mortgage companies make their panel listings available on the web. Where you are seeking to appoint a Grahame Park conveyancer on the Leeds Building Society please make the most of our facility.

I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Grahame Park. I have a mortgage offer with Principality. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Principality, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Principality conveyancing panel.

Should our conveyancer be raising enquiries regarding flooding as part of the conveyancing in Grahame Park.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors dealing with homes in Grahame Park. There are those who buy a property in Grahame Park, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory building insurance, or sell the property. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Solicitors are not best placed to offer advice on flood risk, but there are a various searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which can give them a better understanding of the risks in Grahame Park. The conventional set of information supplied to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard inquiry of the seller to determine whether the property has ever been flooded. If the premises has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer could commence a claim for damages stemming from an misleading answer. The purchaser’s lawyers should also order an enviro search. This will reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be initiated.

I was recommended by numerous estate agents in Grahame Park to get a quote from a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to recommend your services rather than a competitor’s?

We refuse to offer any commission for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee as a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

My cousin has suggested that I appoint his conveyancing solicitors in Grahame Park. Should I use them?

No doubt it’s preferable to find a conveyancing solicitor is to have recommendations from friends or family who have used the firm you're contemplating using.