The owners of the house we are looking to purchase hired a conveyancing solicitor in Cheslyn Hay who has suggested a preliminary agreement with a payment of 5k. Are such contracts the norm for Cheslyn Hay conveyancing transactions?

There are two primary drawbacks with entering into any lock out agreement (occasionally termed an exclusivity agreement) is that it takes away the focus from making progress with the conveyancing work, so in the absence of it needing minimal or no negotiation then it may transpire to be a hindrance. It is not strongly advocated amongst Cheslyn Hay conveyancing solicitors for this reason. A further issue is the extent of the remedies available - an aggrieved purchaser is extremely unlikely to win injunctive relief to bar the owner selling to a third party, so the only remedy available under the contract will be the reimbursement of wasted charges and, in restricted situations, the additional payment of penalties.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Cheslyn Hay last January but our buyer keeps e-mailing me to say his conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities now that I have sold?

Following your sale your solicitor is duty bound to forward the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor must also send confirmation that the mortgage has been paid off to the buyers lawyers. There are no post completion formalities unique to conveyancing in Cheslyn Hay.

I am intent on selling our property in Cheslyn Hay and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using a national conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Cheslyn Hay. We have lived in Cheslyn Hay for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Should we contact our local Authority to obtain clarification need.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. What do they say? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)

It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in Cheslyn Hay concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I'm purchasing my first flat in Cheslyn Hay with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The house builders rep advised me not reveal to my conveyancer about the deal as it will impact my loan with the bank. Is this normal?.

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.