My fiance and I are planning to purchase a property in Bexhill On Sea and are in fact using a Bexhill On Sea conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Nationwide Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Bexhill On Sea conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bexhill On Sea solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in Bexhill On Sea for our house move. Our financial adviser has since notified us that our mortgage lenders Nottingham Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?

A decade ago most lenders had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all Bexhill On Sea conveyancing firms would have been on most lender panels. The FSA in 2010 completed a thematic investigation into mortgage fraud which concluded: know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, mortgage companies have regularly sought more information from law firms concerning their operations and their employees and establishing certain criteria such a completing on a minimum amount of conveyancing. Many Bexhill On Sea conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have a 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Bexhill On Sea is one of the many areas where the lawyers we list are on the panel for Nottingham Building Society.

The deeds to my home can not be found. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in Bexhill On Sea 10 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?

Gone are the days when you need to hold title original deeds to evidence that you own the land or property, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

I was recommended by a few selling agents in Bexhill On Sea to choose a solicitor using your seach tool. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to market your site rather than alternative conveyancing organisations?

We refuse to make any commission for sending work to this site. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in Bexhill On Sea. Conveyancing has not commenced, however I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice as normal as all rents and maintenance payments should be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Bexhill On Sea - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

On the whole the outlay for major works are not wrapped into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Bexhill On Sea obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for larger works. It is important to be aware whether redecorating or some other significant cost is pending to be shared between the leaseholders and may well dramatically increase the the maintenance costs or necessitate a one off invoice. Many Bexhill On Sea leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, normally this is not a significant figure, say about £25-£75 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be prohibitively expensive.