As I am unsure how the conveyancing bit works what is the most important piece of guidance you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Portslade?

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Portslade or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of opportunity for confrontation between you and others involved in the transaction. For instance, the vendor, property agent and even potentially your mortgage company. Appointing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Portslade should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the process whose role it is to look after your best interests and to keep you safe.

There is a definite creep of a "blame" culture- someone has to be at fault for the process taking so long. We recommend that you should always trust your lawyer ahead of all other parties in the home moving process.

I am considering applying for a Nationwide mortgage for purchase of a new build (under development) in Portslade with 70% LTV. Is it compulsory to choose a solicitor on the conveyancing panel for Nationwide ?

There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor, but Nationwide will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is greater potential for delays and confusion with an additional lawyer added to the mix, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.

I am purchasing my first flat in Portslade benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative advised me not disclose to my lawyer about the extras as it would impact my loan with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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 decided to have a survey carried out on a house in Portslade in advance of instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. My surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to give a mortgage on a flying freehold home.

It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Portslade. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

We are in the process of buying a home in Portslade. Conveyancing is not yet done but we wish to keep our purchase price private from the likes of Zoopla. Is this possible and how?

The Land Registry by statute are bound to specify price paid data on a register of the title for domestic properties nationwide which includes premises in Portslade. The register of title is a public document, so HMLR would be breaching their statutory duty excluded specific properties such as the one in Portslade.

In essence you can make a request of HMLR to withhold the amount paid entry but the response will be in the negative.