I am purchasing a property without a mortgage in Woodhouse Eaves. I have lived for the previous 20 years in Woodhouse Eaves. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I have knowledge of the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a mortgage, then the vast majority of the Woodhouse Eaves conveyancing searches are optional. Your conveyancer will try and sway you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but she is duty bound to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are going to sell the house one day, it could be of interest to your prospective buyer what the searches disclose. There are plenty of instances where houses with apparent issues can still show up unpredicted search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Woodhouse Eaves should provide you some practical guidance concerning this.

My wife and I purchased a semi-detached Edwardian house in Woodhouse Eaves. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Chelsea Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. Is it worth asking Chelsea Building Society to clarify?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Woodhouse Eaves and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who carried out the work.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Woodhouse Eaves with a loan from Nationwide Building Society. The developers refused to move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The estate agent advised me not to tell my lawyer about the extras as it may affect my loan with Nationwide Building Society. Should I keep quiet?.

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.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Woodhouse Eaves I like with a park and station nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Woodhouse Eaves for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?

If you require a mortgage that many years will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this.

In what way can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 affect my commercial offices in Woodhouse Eaves and how can you help?

The particular law that you refer to provides protection to commercial tenants, giving them the a statutory right to make a request to court for a continuation of occupancy at the end of an expired lease. There are certain specified grounds where a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complicated. We are happy to direct you to commercial conveyancing firms who use the act to your advantage and handle your commercial conveyancing in Woodhouse Eaves