The Bodfari conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Bodfari have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a lawyer on the UBS conveyancing panel and my preferred Bodfari lawyer was not. I paid them money on account. What do I do now?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will 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 UBS 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 lawyers should be in a position to help.

Me and my brother own a terraced Victorian property in Bodfari. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Virgin Money. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Bodfari and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who completed the work.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and found one near me in Bodfari I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it only has 49 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Bodfari suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage that many years will be problematic. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current 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 lawyer about this.

I need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Bodfari for my home move. Can I review a firm’s record with the profession’s regulator?

Members of the public may see documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations resulting from inquisitions commenced on or after 1 January 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors record, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA may recorded telephone calls for training reasons.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bodfari with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bodfari can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Bodfari state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such works. Should you fail to have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance. If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Bodfari conveyancing transaction. If a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled. You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I inherited a ground floor flat in Bodfari, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1996. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Bodfari with a long lease are worth £211,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2086

You have 67 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.