We are about to sign contracts for a ground floor flat in St Ives. We have hit a snag. The loan offer with The Royal Bank of Scotland runs out on 20/3/2026 but the sellers are insisting on a completion date of 24/3/2026. Is it possible to extend the loan offer?

The best person to address this issue is your conveyancer who should determine whether they better off negotiating with the bank, vendor’s lawyers, selling agents or indeed all three based on the circumstances your conveyancing to date.

In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in St Ives? Is this really warranted?

In order to comply with Money Laundering Regulations any St Ives conveyancing firm will require proof of identity in all conveyancing matters. This is usually satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account evidencing your correct address.

Under Money Laundering Regulations, property lawyers are duty bound to ascertain not just the ID of conveyancing clients but also the source of the money that they receive in respect of any matter. An unwillingness to disclose this may lead to your solicitor terminating their retainer with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.

Your conveyancers will have an obligation to inform the appropriate authorities should they consider that any monies received by them may contravene the Money Laundering Regulations.

The St Ives conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in St Ives have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel and my previous St Ives lawyer was not. I paid them money in advance. What are my options?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Santander conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.

I am buying my first flat in St Ives with a mortgage from Santander. The developers refused to reduce the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent advised me not disclose to my conveyancer about the side-deal as it would jeopardize my mortgage with the bank. Is this normal?.

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.

I wish to sublet my leasehold flat in St Ives. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

A lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in St Ives do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

I purchased a split level flat in St Ives, conveyancing having been completed 4 years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding properties in St Ives with over 90 years remaining are worth £181,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2077

With only 51 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £30,400 and £35,200 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.