My wife and I are buying a new build duplex in West Yorkshire and my conveyancer is telling me that she has to the lender to reveal incentives from the seller. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I have no desire to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your solicitor. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in West Yorkshire. My lender is Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 30/8/2025, the requirements read as follows :
My colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in West Yorkshire I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard West Yorkshire conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about West Yorkshire around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the West Yorkshire Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, West Yorkshire Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about West Yorkshire.
I used Wolstenholmes several years past for my conveyancing in West Yorkshire. Now, I need my files however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in West Yorkshire of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £305k and identified one near me in West Yorkshire I like with open areas and transport links in the vicinity, however it only has 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in West Yorkshire for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this matter.
Is there a reason that West Yorkshire conveyancing costs are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?
Inevitably there is increased work required in leasehold conveyancing. West Yorkshire has many leasehold properties. There is more time involved in the purchase: for example, the lease and leasehold information (including current service charge, ground rent and buildings insurance details) obtained from the freeholder or managing agents. There are strict criteria that the lease must meet in order to be acceptable to a mortgage company. If it does not meet these requirements, the lease must be amended, which can involve additional expense for the seller.