I am helping my step-mother sell her house in Harold Wood. Will the conveyancer order an EPC or it is for the owner to see to?

Following the demise of Home Information Packs, EPC’s became a mandatory part of moving house. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand in advance of the property being marketed. It is not something that law firms ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Harold Wood conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange EPC’s given their relationships with long established Harold Wood energy assessors

I have paid off my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Harold Wood property lawyer on the Co-operative panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Co-operative mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so

At last I have had an offer on a flat in Harold Wood agreed to, but there is a chain. The owners have offered on on an apartment, however it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Harold Wood. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Clydesdale started?

It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey, Harold Wood conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is ensure that your property lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Regarding the subsequent phase this very much dictated by the specifics of your transaction, attraction to the property and on the state of the market. In a rising market many purchasers would apply for a home loan with Clydesdale and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their lawyer to press on with searches.

Various web forums that I have frequented warn that are the number one cause of delay in Harold Wood house deals. Is this right?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Harold Wood.

It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in Harold Wood completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I'm buying my first flat in Harold Wood with a loan from Santander. The builders refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not disclose to my conveyancer about this extras as it may affect my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.

I have been recommended by three or four local estate agents in Harold Wood to locate a conveyancer on your site. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to promote your site ahead of a competitor’s?

We refuse to make any financial incentive for directing people to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.