I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Kingston Vale. I have a mortgage offer with Aldermore. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Aldermore, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Aldermore conveyancing panel.

I currently have a mortgage with RBS for my property in Kingston Vale. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform RBS?

You must advise RBS before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of RBS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that RBS will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact RBS directly. You need not do this via a RBS conveyancing panel lawyer.

After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Kingston Vale. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their solicitor. I paid an on account payment of £225. A few days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me to say that they were not on the Co-operative 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 Co-operative 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.

Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose proposed roadworks that may impact a commercial premises in Kingston Vale?

Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Kingston Vale will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in researching accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Kingston Vale. The search result provides definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Kingston Vale.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Kingston Vale it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately can result in delays to Kingston Vale commercial conveyancing transactions as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not ordered for domestic conveyancing in Kingston Vale.

I am buying my first flat in Kingston Vale benefiting from help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The house builders rep suggested that I not to tell my solicitor about this deal as it may affect my mortgage with the lender. 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 opted to have a survey done on a property in Kingston Vale prior to appointing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold property.

It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different requirements from Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Kingston Vale. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Kingston Vale to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

I bought a property in Kingston Vale last 21/10/2024 and to date it is still not registered with HMLR. It is part of a new estate and my lawyer told me that it may take 12 months to register. I have contacted HMLR directly and they say that the original application was cancelled due to failure to reply to requisitions. Should I be concerned?

It is your property lawyer that you really need to get in touch with in order to satisfy any issues which have been raised as part of the registration formalities for your Kingston Vale property. Normal Kingston Vale conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the previous owner’s lawyer that they will help resolve any requirements raised by HMLR so it may be a case of seeking to enforce that undertaking in some way.