Please help - my lawyer advises that lack of planning permission insurance is required on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Yiewsley conveyancing?

The right level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.

I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Yiewsley. I have a mortgage agreed with Santander. Conveyancing is not something I have any knowledge of. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Santander, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Yiewsley. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their solicitor. I paid an upfront payment of £175. Shortly after, the property lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Virgin Money panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

It has been four months since my purchase conveyancing in Yiewsley completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I am buying my first flat in Yiewsley with a mortgage from National Westminster Bank. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The estate agent told me not to tell my solicitor about this extras as it may adversely affect my mortgage with the bank. 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.

We are 18 days into a leasehold purchase having been directed to solicitors by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in Yiewsley. I am am starting to be frustrated with the level of service. Could you help me find new conveyancers?

A conveyancer would need to be really poor to suggest changing them. Has the loan offer been generated? In the event that it has you need to advise them of the new contact details and ensure the loan are issued to the new lawyers. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks approved list to avoid escalating expenses and complications. So that should be your first question of the new solicitors. The search tool should help you find a lender approved solicitor for your home move in Yiewsley

I work for a busy estate agency in Yiewsley where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Yiewsley conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Yiewsley conveyancing firm to represent me?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Yiewsley conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Yiewsley residence is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 69 years.