I am buying a right to buy a flat in Knutsford. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Knutsford you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Knutsford.

Me and my partner are purchasing a property in Knutsford. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we have to deposit our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our deposit?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I happen to be the single recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Knutsford. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in August. I plan to dispose of the house. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship could be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in August. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The CML handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be affected by that. How sensible a view mortgage companies take of it, depend on the bank as this provision chiefly exists to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.

Having read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Knutsford solicitor - who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Knutsford surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

I'm buying a new build house in Knutsford with a loan from Yorkshire Building Society. The builders would not move on the amount so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the deal as it would jeopardize my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.

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'm converting the mortgage on my existing property to a buy to let mortgage with Nationwide Building Society and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on another house. The area we are looking at is Knutsford. Will your conveyancers be able to act for the two mortgage companies and link together the conveyances?

Make use of our comparison tool on this site to check that the lawyers are on the relevant lender panels. Assuming that they are your conveyancer should be able to simultaneously deal with the two transactions but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make clear your desired outcome and requirements.

There are only 72 years left on my flat in Knutsford. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Knutsford.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Knutsford - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The answer will be important as a) areas may result in problems for the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if repairs remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to have all the details You should be aware that where the lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the property. Check with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out what this would cost. For most Knutsfordlease extensions you would need to own the property for 24 months before you are eligible to exercise a lease extension.