I am assisting my mother sell her flat in Whitefield. Will the conveyancing solicitor commission an energy assessment or should I organise this?

After the abolition of Home Packs, EPC’s was retained a compulsory component of selling a house. An energy performance certificate should be to hand in advance of the property being advertised. It is not something that lawyers ordinarily organise. If you are using a Whitefield conveyancing solicitor they might help arrange EPC’s due to their contacts with reputable Whitefield assessors

Does a directory service exist listing HSBC panel conveyancers in Whitefield on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?

No. There is no such directory service on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association sites. Very few mortgage companies make their panel listings available online. If you are seeking to appoint a Whitefield lawyer on the HSBC please make the most of our facility.

My husband and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from Nationwide as we want to carry out alterations to our home in Whitefield. Do we need to select a bricks and mortar Whitefield solicitor on the Nationwide conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?

Nationwide would not normally instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.

My friend suggested that where I am purchasing in Whitefield I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Whitefield conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Whitefield around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Whitefield.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my house can not be found. The solicitors who handled the conveyancing in Whitefield 4 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?

As long as you have a registered title the details of your proprietorship will be evidenced by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and obtain up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.

I am buying my first flat in Whitefield with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my conveyancer about this side-deal as it may affect my mortgage with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

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 am looking for a flat up to £305k and found one near me in Whitefield I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Whitefield for this price, 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 remaining unexpired lease term will be problematic. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.