Our grandson is buying a new build apartment in Newbury with a home loan from . His lawyer has said that there is a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?

The form is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. 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 conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

As someone unfamiliar with conveyancing in Newbury what is your top tip you can give me for the house moving process in Newbury

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Newbury or throughout is an adversarial process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists an abundance of room for confrontation between you and others involved in the home moving process. For example, the seller, estate agent and on occasion the bank. Selecting a lawyer for your conveyancing in Newbury should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the process whose interest is to protect your legal interests and to keep you safe.

Sometimes a potential adversary may attempt to persuade you that it is in your interests to do things their way. For instance, the estate agent may claim to be helping by claiming that your lawyer is wrong. Or your financial adviser may advise you to do something that is against your lawyers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

We are buying a flat in Newbury. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we have to send funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our money?

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.

My wife and I have organised the release of further monies on our home loan from as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our house in Newbury. Do we need to select a bricks and mortar Newbury solicitor on the conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?

would not normally appoint firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the conveyancing panel.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with . I assume I don't need a Newbury on the panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your 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 mortgage from the register. , 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 has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I'm buying a new build house in Newbury with a loan from . The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not inform my conveyancer about this deal as it may put at risk 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.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Newbury. Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon, but I have recently received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you clear the maintenance contribution as you normally would as all ground rent and service charges should be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Newbury - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

What is the name of the managing agents? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? How is the lease structured?