My partner and I are planning to acquire a flat in Birchington and have appointed a Birchington conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nottingham Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Birchington lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 lender 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Birchington solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

I purchased a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Birchington. Conveyancing solicitor represented me and Barclays . I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to read 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Birchington and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.

How easy is it to switch conveyancer as I have to retain one who is on the Barclays conveyancing list. I instructed a family conveyancing solicitor in Birchington round the corner but the firm is not accepted by Barclays

It would be our pleasure to help you select a conveyancing solicitor in Birchington on the Barclays panel. Please note that the law firms that we list do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are under regulation of the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Birchington. In utilising the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this website, you can scrutinise charges for conveyancing solicitors in Birchington and throughout England and Wales.

My uncle has encouraged me to instruct his conveyancing solicitors in Birchington. Do I follow his advice?

Much as we are happy to recommend a Birchington conveyancing lawyer it’s preferable to find a conveyancing solicitor is to seek guidance from friends or family who have previously instructed the firm you're considering.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Birchington. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Birchington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Plenty Birchington leasehold properties will have a service bill for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. Where you buy the property you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly accross the year. This can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a ground rent to be met yearly, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say about £50-£100 but you should to check it because sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. The answer will be useful as a) areas may result in problems in the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if services are not paid for b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to know about it Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the leaseholders?