I am getting a offer of a home loan from Santander. I hope to instruct a Licensed Conveyancer in Swiss Cottage. Does the Santander Conveyancing panel exclude Licensed Conveyancers?

The Santander approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

Should our conveyancer be raising enquiries concerning flooding during the conveyancing in Swiss Cottage.

Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors dealing with homes in Swiss Cottage. There are those who purchase a property in Swiss Cottage, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. 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 dispose of the premises. Steps can be carried out as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Solicitors are not best placed to give advice on flood risk, but there are a numerous checks that may be undertaken by the purchaser or by their lawyers which can give them a better understanding of the risks in Swiss Cottage. The standard information supplied to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a usual inquiry of the owner to find out whether the property has suffered from flooding. In the event that the premises has been flooded in past and is not disclosed by the owner, then a purchaser could issue a legal claim for losses stemming from an inaccurate answer. The buyer’s lawyers may also conduct an enviro report. This will disclose whether there is any known flood risk. If so, additional investigations should be initiated.

I am buying a new build house in Swiss Cottage with the aid of help to buy. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my solicitor about the side-deal as it would jeopardize my loan 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Swiss Cottage from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Swiss Cottage can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ lawyers.
A minority of Swiss Cottage leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a Swiss Cottage conveyancing deal. Where a new share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Following years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Swiss Cottage. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Swiss Cottage property is First Floor Flat 20 Fitzjohns Avenue in July 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premiums to be paid for new leases in respect of the Raised Ground Floor Flat and the First Floor Flat were to be calculated as: Raised Ground Floor: £765,175.14 First Floor: £601,617.77 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 16.83 and 16.43.

Me and my fiance have just had an offer accepted on a apartment and had an appointment on Monday with Nationwide for the mortgage. They advised us that when it comes to selecting a property lawyer that if they are not on their approved list of property lawyers then we will incur an additional charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to instruct a conveyancer to act on their behalf as well as the one we select for ourselves and we assume responsibility for their invoice. I have requested Nationwide to provide me with a list so I can seek estimates only from their approved conveyancers but was told that I need to check with each individual lawyer to see if they are on the panel. Is their an easier way of going about this?

You can enquire of Nationwide what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on mortgages for Nationwide in the past. If the answer to those is yes, then just double check with Nationwide. Another option is to utilise our search facility and we may be able to locate a solicitor in Swiss Cottage on the panel for Nationwide.