My nephew is about to exchange on a house that has just been built in Isle of Sheppey with a home loan from Skipton. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?

The document is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Skipton conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Skipton conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

Why is leasehold purchase conveyancing in Isle of Sheppey is more expensive?

In short, leasehold conveyancing in Isle of Sheppey and elsewhere usually warrants extra hours of investigation compared to freehold transactions. This includes checking the lease terms, liaising with the landlord concerning serving required notices, obtaining current service charge and management information, obtaining the freeholder’s consents and reviewing management accounts. The obligations on both the landlord and the tenant in the lease need to be studied by the buyer’s conveyancing team and read from beginning to end – no matter how many different owners have owned the lease since it was first granted.

My fiance and I are buying a 3 bedroom apartment in Isle of Sheppey with a mortgage from Platform Home Loans Ltd.We like our Isle of Sheppey conveyancing solicitor but Platform Home Loans Ltd informed us her practice is not on their "panel". we are left little option but to use a Platform Home Loans Ltd panel solicitor or retain our preferred solicitor and pay for a Platform Home Loans Ltd panel lawyer to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?

Unfortunately,no. The loan issued to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that conveyancers will be on the Platform Home Loans Ltd approved list. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Platform Home Loans Ltd

This question may be naive but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Isle of Sheppey. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Isle of Sheppey?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the owner’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

When it comes to mortgage companies such as Skipton, do Isle of Sheppey property lawyers face a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

is it true that all Isle of Sheppey solicitor firms on the Principality conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Principality approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the SRA. Some mortgage companies do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the firms would be regulated by the CLC.

I am buying a new build house in Isle of Sheppey with the aid of help to buy. The developers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The sale representative told me not to tell my conveyancer about this extras 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 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.