AssumingI was to acquire a straightforward homein Wigston mortgage fee and dispense with a survey and no local authority searches how much should I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Wigston?

Any savings you would gain will be isolated to the Wigston conveyancing searches. Your conveyancing practitioner is obliged to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, communicating with your vendors conveyancing practitioner, SDLT submission, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a charge however it won't be significant.

My uncle passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Wigston. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Bank of Ireland, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?

If you intend to re-mortgage then Bank of Ireland will require that you use a conveyancer on the Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

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

This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Wigston conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Wigston 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 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 information about Wigston.

My husband and I are novice buyers - agreed a price, yet the agent told us that the vendor will only issue a contract if we use the agent's preferred conveyancers as they want an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a local solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Wigston

We suspect that the owner is unaware of this requirement. Should the owner require ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated purchaser is going to damage their objectives. Speak to the vendors direct and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances arranged © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you are going to instruct your own,trusted Wigston conveyancing lawyers - as opposed tothe ones that will give their estate agent a kickback or meet his conveyancing figures demanded by head office.

Can I discover who is the owner of a property in Wigston?

As long as the property is registered with the Land Registry, and you have the specifics of the location of the premises, you will be able to obtain details from the the Land Registry of the registered owner for a a minimal charge.