It is a dozen years since I bought my property in Herne Hill. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be kept by the lender or they could be in the possession of the lawyers who handled your purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Herne Hill relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it is more problematic but is resolvable.

My home in Herne Hill is up for sale and I have a buyer. Will my property lawyer need to be on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently currently.

Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose impending roadworks that could affect a commercial estate in Herne Hill?

Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Herne Hill will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers invest in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Herne Hill. The search result sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Herne Hill.

For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Herne Hill it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can result in delays to Herne Hill commercial conveyancing transactions as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not conducted for residential conveyancing in Herne Hill.

About to purchase a new build flat in Herne Hill. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Herne Hill

The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.

I was advised by numerous property agents in Herne Hill to locate a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to market your services ahead of a competitor’s?

We don’t make any commission for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.