My son-in-law is about to exchange on a newly built flat in Shadwell with a home loan from Skipton. His solicitor has said that there is a delay in completing 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 transaction. 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 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 Skipton conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

When does exchange of contracts occur in residential conveyancing in Shadwell and am I required to attend the solicitors branch?

If you are local to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Shadwell you are welcome to attend to sign documents. However, the firms we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and provide as equally detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The executing of the purchase agreement is not the point of no return. A signed contract is just a prerequisite for the firm to officially exchange at the suitable time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Shadwell)to be in the office at the appropriate time.

I have a semi-detached Edwardian house in Shadwell. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and The Royal Bank of Scotland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Shadwell and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing solicitor who carried out the work.

Given that I will soon part with over three hundred thousand on a garden flat in Shadwell I wish to talk to a conveyancer about myconveyancing ahead of giving the go ahead to the firm. Can this be arranged?

This is something that we encourage - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the conveyancer due to be conducting your property ownership legalities in Shadwell.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - each client is an important person, not a matter number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are quoted for your conveyancing in Shadwell should be the figure that you are charged.

Would local authority permission be needed to convert a house into multiple appartments in Shadwell? This has been carried out to a house next door to a friend in Shadwell and was not aware of it happening until it was complete.

Planning permission is required for splitting a single house in Shadwell into flats but probably not for converting once again to single dwelling-house so, simply put, yes,a it is required.