My partner and I are acquiring a newly built apartment in Rochford and my lawyer is telling me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to disclose incentives from the builder. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange and I have no desire to delay deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your solicitor. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

What is the first thing I need to know regarding purchase conveyancing in Rochford?

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Rochford or throughout Essex is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of room for friction between you and other parties involved in the house moving process. For example, the vendor, selling agent and sometimes the mortgage company. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in Rochford should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the transaction whose interest is to protect your best interests and to keep you safe.

On occasion a potential adversary will try and sway you that it is in your interests to do things their way. As an example, the property agent may claim to be helping by claiming that your conveyancer is dragging his heels. Or your mortgage broker may advise you to do something that is contrary to your lawyers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties in the conveyancing process.

My wife and I are buying a property in Rochford. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? On completion day we will need to put our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?

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.

We were going to get a DIP from Clydesdale this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Clydesdale recommend any Rochford solicitors on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently?

You will need to appoint Rochford solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Clydesdale through the process.

My partner and I are in the throws of looking at apartments in Rochford and I am about to put in an offer. Should I already have a conveyancing practitioner appointed at this stage? I will be getting a home loan with Nationwide.

It would be prudent to start your search sooner rather than later. 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 selling agent. As you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Rochford with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not move on the amount 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 would adversely affect my mortgage 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Rochford. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Rochford who acted for me is not around. Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Rochford conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Rochford - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? How much is the ground rent and service charge?