The deeds to our house can not be found. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in The Ridgeway 4 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?

You no longer need to hold title deeds to establish that you own the land or property, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

I'm buying my first flat in The Ridgeway with a mortgage from Bank of Scotland. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my conveyancer about the side-deal as it will impact my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder 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.

Am I right to be suspicious about brokers that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use an internet conveyancing firm rather than a local The Ridgeway conveyancing firm?

As with lots of service providers, often suggestions from connections can be worth their weight in gold. Nevertheless there are lots of people with a vested interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders may recommend lawyers to select. Sometimes these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there might be a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You are free to choose your preferred conveyancer. However, bear in mind that the majority of mortgage providers specify a panel list of conveyancers you have to use for the lender aspect of your conveyancing.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in The Ridgeway with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in The Ridgeway can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers’ representatives.
If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled. Some The Ridgeway leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

After months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in The Ridgeway. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a The Ridgeway conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a The Ridgeway premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The unexpired lease term was 76 years.

There are a lot of properties in The Ridgeway on unadopted roads. My partner and I are buying one such property. Are there any benefits to buying a house on a private road?

The Ridgeway conveyancing practices will be familiar with dealing houseson unadopted roads. Your conveyancer will investigate Land Registry data to identify any rights or responsibilities. It is possible that there is a residents association that owners make annual contributions for the upkeep of the road. Where there is one, the road will likely be maintained and look nicer than council owned.