I am purchasing a garden flat in Hackney. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Hackney you will have to appoint a solicitor on your lender's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Hackney.

I am purchasing my first flat in Hackney with a loan from . The sellers would not budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative advised me not inform my conveyancer about this deal as it will impact my mortgage with the lender. 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 ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Hackney I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Hackney in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?

If you need a home loan the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to 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 consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Hackney, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Hackney with over 90 years remaining are worth £165,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 50

With 50 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

We are first time buyers just having agreed a price on a property in Hackney, and are now looking to get solicitors lined up. I have made use of the various rating tools and the fee estimates are from all across the England and Wales. Is it necessary to have a Hackney local to your prospective new home? I am fine to do everything electronically, but I guess at some point we may be required to physically go into the 's office to sign papers?

Usually there is no requirement to physically visit the office of your , they can send any relevant papers to you, which you can sign and return. Many home movers choose to instruct a locally based solicitor, but it is not a prerequisite for conveyancing in Hackney.