Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as a 1st time purchaser of a ground floor flat in West Kensington.Do I receive the keys to the property on completion from my lawyer? If so, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in West Kensington?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the owner’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you will be called to collect the keys from the property Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.

Will my lawyer be raising questions about flooding during the conveyancing in West Kensington.

Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in West Kensington. There are those who buy a house in West Kensington, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the property. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Conveyancers are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, however there are a number of searches that can be initiated by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which will give them a better appreciation of the risks in West Kensington. The conventional set of information supplied to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard inquiry of the vendor to determine whether the premises has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the owner, then a purchaser could bring a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate answer. The buyer’s conveyancers should also carry out an environmental search. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries should be conducted.

I used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in West Kensington. I now require my file but the law firm has closed. What do I do?

Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in West Kensington of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.