I am acquiring a property mortgage free in St James. I have been residing for the previous twelve years in St James. Conveyancing searches are expensive. Given that I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a mortgage, then almost all of the St James conveyancing searches are non-obligatory. Your lawyer will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but she has a professional duty to take that path of guidance. Do consider; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it will likely be be of importance to your prospective purchaser what the searches determine. Sometimes premises with functional issues can still reveal unpredicted search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in St James should provide you some practical advice concerning this.

Please explain the implications if my solicitor is suspended from the Aldermore Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in St James?

The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.

I own a semi-detached Edwardian house in St James. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Barclays . I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in St James and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.

I'm purchasing my first flat in St James benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The estate agent suggested that I not to tell my lawyer about the deal as it may put at risk my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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've recently bought a leasehold property in St James. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without success. Can I make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a St James conveyancing firm to assist?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to make a decision on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St James property is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 56 years.