AssumingI was to acquire a freehold propertyin Wanstead Flats for cash and have no survey and no conveyancing searches how much could I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Wanstead Flats?

Any savings you would make will be isolated to the costs for searches. A lawyer still be obliged to do everything else - money laundering, communicating with the vendors lawyer, stamp duty return, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a mortgage however it will not be meaningful.

It is is a decade since I acquired my property in Wanstead Flats. Conveyancing lawyers have now been retained on the sale but I can't locate the title documents. Is this a major issue?

Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be retained by your lender or they could stored with the conveyancers who handled your purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Wanstead Flats relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.

My uncle passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Wanstead Flats. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Clydesdale, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

Given you intend to refinance then Clydesdale will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Clydesdale mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

My friend suggested that if I am buying in Wanstead Flats I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Wanstead Flats conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Wanstead Flats around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Wanstead Flats Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Wanstead Flats.

Should one as executor remove a deceased person's details from the title deeds for a house in Wanstead Flats?

If a Wanstead Flats property is jointly owned and one of the owners dies, their name will not immediately be removed from the title deeds. It is not necessary to remove their name as when it comes to a disposal your conveyancer would simply be required to evidence as to the reason the other owner is missing from the contract, normally this is in the form of a grant of probate.

With the aim of making the sale conveyancing simpler in the future you can arrange to have the deceased person erased from the title by applying to HMLR with evidence of the death. There is no fee from the Registry for this service.