My fiancee and I are acquiring our first home. Our solicitor has e-mailedto enquire if we wish to take out additional conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's necessary for conveyancing in Stone

The quantity and type of Stone conveyancing searches depends entirely on the property, the location, the likelihood of any of these risks, your familiarity of the locality and risks, your overall appetite to risk. What is important is that you adequately comprehend what information the searches could provide. You may then make a decision if you consider that you need that search. Where you are in doubt, ask your solicitor to explain.

Do banks and building societies provide you with an approved list of Stone conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Barclays conveyancing panel?

Stone conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Barclays conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Barclays directly.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a ground floor flat in Stone. Do I collect the keys to the property on the completion date from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Stone?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will electronically transfer the purchase money to the vendor’s solicitors, and once they have received this, you should be called to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen early afternoon.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Barclays. I assume I don't need a Stone lawyer on the Barclays panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your Barclays mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Barclays mortgage from the register. Barclays, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Barclays has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Barclays has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Stone. I have a mortgage agreed with Nottingham. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Nottingham, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Stone with a mortgage from Accord Mortgages Ltd. The builders would not move on the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The property agent told me not reveal to my lawyer about this extras as it would jeopardize my mortgage with the bank. 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.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Stone what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Stone is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, Barnsley Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Stone Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

The answer will be useful as a) areas may result in problems in the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where repairs remain unpaid b) if the tenants have an issue with the managing agents you will want to know about it Its a good idea to discover as much as you can concerning the company managing the building as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to daily issues such as the tidiness of the common parts. Don't be shy to ask other people whether they are happy with their management. Finally, be sure you discover the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and specifically what you get for your money. Please note that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.