I am hoping to receive a mortgage with Halifax. I hope to enlist the help of a Licensed Conveyancer in Skipton. Does the Halifax Solicitor panel include Licensed Conveyancers?

The Halifax conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.

We are a couple about to sign contracts for a property in Skipton. We have hit a problem. The mortgage offer with runs out on but the owners are putting forward a completion date of . Can one extend the mortgage offer?

The best person to address this concern is your solicitors who will calculate whether they better off negotiating with the bank, vendor’s conveyancers, selling agents or indeed all parties taking into account the circumstances your house move as of today.

We are expecting a mortgage offer soon. The bank mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to appoint their panel solicitor as I would prefer to appoint a high street conveyancing solicitor in Skipton?

Do check but the chances are that appoint one of their panel solicitors if you take up the "fee-free" deal. Contact the bank to see if they allow a monetary alternative. It is not unheard for a lender to give a £250 cashback as a further option in which case that money can go towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor in Skipton.

Should our lawyer be asking questions concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Skipton.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers carrying out conveyancing in Skipton. Plenty of people will buy a house in Skipton, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a number of checks that can be initiated by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Skipton. The conventional set of information supplied to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) includes a standard question of the vendor to discover if the property has historically flooded. If flooding has previously occurred which is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer may issue a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate answer. A purchaser’s solicitors may also commission an environmental search. This should reveal if there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be carried out.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Skipton?

Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Skipton. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’