Just contacted my conveyancing lawyer in St Luke's who conducted the legals two years ago and wanted a conveyancing estimate based on an identical type of house sale & purchase (a leasehold property and a freehold property) of similar values with a mortgage from . I am now being quoted twice the amount. Should I hunt for an alternative conveyancer?

The estimate does seem a little on the high side. Where you are happy to expend time comparing prices you could decrease the fees slightly by say £125. On the other hand, if you were pleased with the legal work the firm offered you couldlive to regret opting for an a cheaper lawyer. If is important to enquire the firm can act for . You can utilise our search tool to locate a St Luke's conveyancing firm on the approved list of lawyers, which can often include conveyancing solicitors in St Luke's.

Will our conveyancer be raising enquiries about flooding during the conveyancing in St Luke's.

The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for lawyers dealing with homes in St Luke's. Some people will acquire a house in St Luke's, completely expectant that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, suitable building insurance, or sell the property. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.

Lawyers are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, but there are a numerous searches that can be carried out by the buyer or by their lawyers which should give them a better appreciation of the risks in St Luke's. The standard completed inquiry forms given to a buyer’s lawyer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) contains a usual question of the seller to find out whether the premises has suffered from flooding. If flooding has previously occurred and is not notified by the seller, then a purchaser may commence a compensation claim resulting from an inaccurate answer. The buyer’s solicitors should also commission an environmental report. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations will need to be made.

I purchased my home on 10 April and my personal details are still not on the land registry website. Should I be concerned? My conveyancing solicitor in St Luke's advises it should be dealt with inside ten days. Are properties in St Luke's uniquely lengthy to register?

There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in St Luke's registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timescales can vary according to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry must send notices to any other persons or bodies. At present in the region of 80% of such applications are fully addressed within 12 days but occasionally there can be protracted delays. Historically registration takes place after the new owner is living at the premises therefore registration formalities is not usually an essential issue yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer could contact the land registry and explain the circumstances.

I am buying a new build house in St Luke's with a loan from . The developers would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent advised me not to tell my lawyer about this side-deal as it could adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. 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.

Myself and my husband have recently had an offer agreed on a property and had meeting on Wednesday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They warned us that when it comes to choosing a that if they are not on their approved panel of then we will have to pay out an extra charge of about two hundred pounds. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to appoint a conveyancer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select for ourselves and we assume responsibility for their costs. I have requested the Post Office to provide me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved solicitors but was told that I need to check with each individual conveyancer to see if they are on the panel. Is there a list online?

You should ask the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Thereafter ask the of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for the Post Office previously. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Another option is to make use of our search facility and we should be able to locate a in St Luke's on the panel for the Post Office.