I am purchasing a new build flat in Bourne End. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Bourne End you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Bourne End.

I'm the single recipient of my late mum's will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Bourne End. The Bourne End property was put into my name in June. I plan to dispose of the house. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership will be considered the same way as if I'd bought the house in June. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?

The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be impacted by that. many lenders would take a practical view as this obligation primarily exists to pick up on subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.

My offer was accepted on a house in Bourne End on 11/6/2025, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Kent Reliance and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Kent Reliance to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I've read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Bourne End solicitor - who is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Bourne End surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

Me and my brother have a terraced Edwardian house in Bourne End. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and HSBC Bank. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same 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 for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Bourne End 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 question the position with your conveyancing lawyer who carried out the work.

I am buying a new build house in Bourne End with a mortgage from Clydesdale. The sellers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The estate agent suggested that I not disclose to my lawyer about this side-deal as it may affect my loan with the bank. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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 ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Bourne End I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 51 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bourne End for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?

Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.