My wife and I are hoping to buy a house in St Helens and have appointed a St Helens conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. HSBC Bank have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our St Helens lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred St Helens lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Should my conveyancer be raising questions concerning flooding during the conveyancing in St Helens.

Flooding is a growing risk for lawyers dealing with homes in St Helens. Plenty of people will buy a property in St Helens, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, if a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or sell the property. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Conveyancers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that can be carried out by the buyer or by their lawyers which can give them a better appreciation of the risks in St Helens. The standard information given to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a standard inquiry of the owner to determine if the premises has suffered from flooding. If the property has been flooded in past which is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer may bring a claim for damages stemming from an misleading response. The purchaser’s conveyancers will also carry out an environmental search. This should reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries will need to be conducted.

I'm purchasing a new build house in St Helens with a loan from Nationwide Building Society. The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my solicitor about the deal as it will affect my loan with the lender. Is this normal?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 am looking for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in St Helens I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in St Helens in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

I own a leasehold house in St Helens. Conveyancing and Britannia mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in St Helens who acted for me is not around. Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a St Helens conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

St Helens Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Best to be warned if fixing the lift or some other major work is anticipated that will be shared by the tenants and could well materially impact the level of the service charges or result in a specific invoice. The answer will be helpful as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will need to know about it How many years remain on the lease?