What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Robin Hoods Bay? What am I being asked for?

In order to comply with Money Laundering Regulations any Robin Hoods Bay conveyancing firm will require proof of identity in all conveyancing matters. This is usually dealt with by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account showing where you live.

Under Money Laundering Regulations, conveyancing solicitors are duty bound to validate not only the ID of conveyancing clients but also the origin of the money that they receive in respect of any matter. An unwillingness to disclose this may result in your lawyer cancelling their retainer with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.

Your property lawyers are duty bound to inform the relevant authorities should they believe that any monies received by them may contravene the Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules.

The Robin Hoods Bay conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Robin Hoods Bay have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the RBS conveyancing panel and my family Robin Hoods Bay lawyer was not. I paid them money in advance. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the RBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.

I am buying my first flat in Robin Hoods Bay with a mortgage from Bank of Ireland. The sellers refused to move on the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The property agent told me not to tell my solicitor about the extras as it will put at risk my loan with the lender. 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 decided to have a survey completed on a property in Robin Hoods Bay before retaining conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some lenders will not grant a loan on this type of house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Robin Hoods Bay. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Robin Hoods Bay especially if they are familiar with such properties in Robin Hoods Bay.

We own a leasehold flat in Robin Hoods Bay. Conveyancing was finished in 2010. I have read on a number of advice forums that I mustn’t allow the the remaining lease term to get too low. Is this right?

Robin Hoods Bay domestic long term leases are for a set period - normally ninety nine years when they are first granted. However many appartments in Robin Hoods Bay were constructed or converted 20 or more years ago and so these leases now have under 80 years left to run. That may seem like a long time but Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally require leases to have at least 75 years remaining to adequate security. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need a lease extension if you are nearing seventy five years. To enhance the saleability of your property you should be thinking about whether or not to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. Please note that there are significant benefits to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease falls below eighty years the amount you have to pay to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.