Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Walthamstow costs more?

The conveyancing costs on a leasehold property in Walthamstow is inevitably greater when contrasted to a freehold property. This is because there is an amount of additional work necessary in dealing with the landlord and management company to collate the evidence about whether the rent and maintenance fee have been discharged and whether there are any large sums expected to be spent in the foreseeable future on repairs or maintenance of the building.

My fiance and I are buying a newbuild apartment in Walthamstow with a mortgage from Alliance & Leicester .We like our Walthamstow conveyancing practitioner but Alliance & Leicester advised that her practice is not on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to instruct a Alliance & Leicester panel solicitor or retain our high street solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Alliance & Leicester use our lawyer?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its various provisions, one of which will be that solicitors needs to be on the Alliance & Leicester solicitor panel. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Alliance & Leicester

I'm buying my first flat in Walthamstow with a loan from Godiva Mortgages Ltd. The builders would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not to tell my lawyer about the extras as it may impact my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.

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 wary about brokers that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a factory type conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Walthamstow conveyancing practice?

As with many service providers, often recommendations from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are many players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may put forward conveyancers to instruct. On occasion the solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but occasionally there is an underlying financial incentive behind the endorsement. You have the right to select your own lawyer. You need to be aware that most mortgage providers operate an approved list of law firms you have to use for the mortgage related work in your conveyancing.

Been looking for a conveyancing practitioner for leasehold sale conveyancing in Walthamstow. I'm selling, simple no mortgage to discharge, no rush, currently vacant. Had an estimate from a property lawyer for nine hundred pounds including VAT which is a little high considering its so straightforward. Can I pay less for conveyancing in Walthamstow?

Given that it’s a sale only, 475 + VAT should be about the lowest for a Walthamstow solicitor firm.