I plan on acquiring a ground floor flat in Hornsey. My property lawyer is not listed on the lender solicitor panel. Am I still permitted to retain my Hornsey conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the mortgage company panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?

You must have a conveyancer to deal with the legal work required if you require a mortgage to buy your property. The conveyancing practitioner will carry out all the necessary due diligence on the property, ensuring that you’re properly registered as the owner and ensure that all the required mortgage paperwork is in order. One could appoint a Hornsey conveyancer of your choice. However, if the conveyancer selected is not a member of the lender approved list additional charges will be levied as separate legal representation will be need by the mortgage company. Lender panel applications may be submitted, so if your solicitor has not previously applied for membership they can do so.

I am helping my niece sell her flat in Hornsey. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission the energy performance certificate or it is for me to see to?

Following the demise of Home Information Packs, EPC’s became a compulsory part of moving house. An EPC must be to hand before the property is marketed. This is not a task that law firms ordinarily arrange. If you are instructing a Hornsey conveyancing lawyer they may be able to arrange energy performance certificates due to their relationships with long established Hornsey accredited person

This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as FTB of a garden flat in Hornsey. Do I collect the keys to the house on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Hornsey?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Hornsey. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

I'm in the process of viewing houses in Hornsey and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I am planning to take a home loan with Clydesdale.

You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the estate agent. Given that you are getting a mortgage with Clydesdale, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

It has been three months following my purchase conveyancing in Hornsey took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £170,000. 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 property 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 purchasing my first flat in Hornsey with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not reveal to my solicitor about the deal as it could affect my mortgage with Halifax. Should I keep quiet?.

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 opted to have a survey completed on a property in Hornsey in advance of retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to give a mortgage on a flying freehold premises.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. If you contact us we can check with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Hornsey. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Hornsey to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.