My son is purchasing a house that has just been built in The Meadows with a mortgage from RBS. His conveyancer has said that there is a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?

The document 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 RBS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor 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 RBS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

My aunt advised me that in buying a property in The Meadows there could be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to a property. Is this right?

We are aware of anumerous of properties in The Meadows which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external variations. Part of the conveyancing in The Meadows should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Aldermore as we want to conduct a loft conversion to our property in The Meadows. Do we need to select a bricks and mortar The Meadows solicitor on the Aldermore conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Aldermore would not normally appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Aldermore conveyancing panel.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in The Meadows. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £200. Shortly after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Santander conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Santander panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

My partner and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our property in The Meadows and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers are using a factory type conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in The Meadows. Having lived in The Meadows for three years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to get clarification that the buyers are looking for.

It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in The Meadows. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in The Meadows

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal.

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in The Meadows prior to appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. Our surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you e-mail us we can check with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in The Meadows. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.