My partner and I are acquiring a brand new apartment in Buckfastleigh and my conveyancer is telling me that she is duty bound to the lender to reveal incentives from the seller. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange contracts and I have no desire to prolong the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Buckfastleigh? Why is this being asked of me?

To satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations any Buckfastleigh conveyancing firm will require evidence of your identity in all conveyancing transactions. This is usually satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility bill evidencing where you reside.

Under Money Laundering Regulations, property lawyers are duty bound to check not simply the identity of conveyancing clients but also the source of monies that they receive in respect of any matter. An unwillingness to disclose this will lead to your conveyancer ending their relationship with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.

Your conveyancers will have an obligation to notify the relevant authorities should they consider that any amounts received by them may contravene the Money Laundering Regulations.

is it true that all Buckfastleigh conveyancing solicitors on the Santander conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Santander approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the SRA. The majority of lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be overseen by the CLC.

We are getting the release of further monies on our home loan from Clydesdale as we intend to conduct renovations to our property in Buckfastleigh. Do we need to select a nearby Buckfastleigh solicitor on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

Clydesdale would not normally instruct firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel.

I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Buckfastleigh on 10/12/2025, valuation was booked 2 days after, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Lloyds and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

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

What can a local search reveal concerning the house I am purchasing in Buckfastleigh?

Buckfastleigh conveyancing often commences with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Onsearch The local search is essential in every Buckfastleigh conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search will provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic sections.

Back In 2002, I bought a leasehold house in Buckfastleigh. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Buckfastleigh who acted for me is not around. Any advice?

First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Buckfastleigh conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I own a split level flat in Buckfastleigh, conveyancing was carried out in 2004. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Buckfastleigh with a long lease are worth £227,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2098

With 72 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.