It is is a decade since I purchased my home in South Ruislip. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to track down my title documents. Is this a problem?

Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be kept by the lender or they could be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in all probability the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in South Ruislip relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more of a problem but is resolvable.

The South Ruislip conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in South Ruislip have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the HSBC conveyancing panel and my family South Ruislip lawyer was not. I sent them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would 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 HSBC 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 lawyers may be able to assist.

My wife and I own a semi-detached Edwardian property in South Ruislip. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Bank of Ireland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??

You need to review 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 South Ruislip and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also question the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.

I am purchasing my first flat in South Ruislip benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not disclose to my conveyancer about this deal as it may adversely affect my mortgage with TSB. Is this normal?.

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've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. South Ruislip is the location of the property. Can you offer any advice?

Flying freeholds in South Ruislip are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside South Ruislip you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in South Ruislip may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.