My husband and I are acquiring a new build apartment in Waltham and my solicitor is informing me that she has to the bank to reveal incentives from the builder. I am on a tight deadline to sign contracts and my preference is not to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

I opted to have a survey done on a property in Waltham ahead of instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor has said that some banks may refuse to grant a mortgage on such a property.

It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can check via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Waltham. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Waltham especially if they regularly deal with such properties in Waltham.

As co-executor for the will of my grandfather I am disposing of a house in Cardiff but reside in Waltham. My conveyancer (who is 260 kilometers from merequires that I sign a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in Waltham who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?

Technically speaking you are unlikely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are Waltham based

I work for a busy estate agency in Waltham where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Waltham conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Waltham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

The answer will be important as a) areas can cause problems in the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if repairs remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have a dispute with the running of the building you will wish to know about it What is the annual service fee and ground rent? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability?

There are plenty of houses in Waltham on unadopted lanes. We are buying one such house. Are there any benefits to buying a residence on a private road?

Waltham conveyancing practices will be well versed in conveyancing homeson private. Your lawyer should investigate title to identify any rights or liabilities. In many cases there is a management company (wholly owned by residents) that residents pay into to maintain the road. If there is one, the road will likely be maintained and appear better than council maintained.