The Birmingham conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Birmingham have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and my previous Birmingham lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.

We are planning on selling our house in Birmingham and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers are using a national conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Birmingham. Having lived in Birmingham for three years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that the buyers are looking for.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)

The deeds to our home are lost. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in Birmingham 4 years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?

These day there are copies made of almost everything, and your conveyancer should know precisely where to find all the suitable documentation so you can purchase or sell your house without any difficulty. Where copies can’t be found, your conveyancer may be able to put in place insurance or indemnities protecting you against possible claims on the property.

I'm buying a new build house in Birmingham benefiting from help to buy. The builders refused to move on the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of extras instead. The sale representative told me not disclose to my solicitor about the extras as it would jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

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.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Birmingham is where the house is located. Can you offer any advice?

Flying freeholds in Birmingham are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Birmingham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Birmingham may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.