My wife and I are looking to purchase a flat in Bredbury and are in fact using a Bredbury 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. Barclays have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Bredbury lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bredbury solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I am hoping to complete my purchase in Bredbury next Friday. I have now been asked to send a copy of my building insurance schedule by my solicitor as he says that he has to check this in his capacity as lawyer for the lender. What does the insurance need to cover?

All property lawyers on acting for mortgage companies would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. These obligations are not specific to conveyancing in Bredbury.

Are the Bredbury conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Clydesdale?

Bredbury conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Clydesdale directly.

I'm the single beneficiary of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Bredbury. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in August. I want to move. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my property ownership could be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the property in August. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The CML handbook requires conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be impacted by that. How sensible a view banks take of it, depend on the mortgage company as this provision is chiefly there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.

We had chosen conveyancers with offices in Bredbury on the UBS solicitor panel. They are now charging me an additional fee for the legal aspects of the UBS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by UBS?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your property lawyer can levy a fee for this. This fee is not set by UBS but by your Bredbury solicitor. Some firms on the UBS panel will levy ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but plenty of firms include it on their overall fee.

We are getting the release of further funds on our mortgage from Nottingham as we wish to conduct improvements to our home in Bredbury. Do we need to appoint a bricks and mortar Bredbury solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?

Nottingham do not ordinarily appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Nottingham panel.

What are the common deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Bredbury properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Bredbury. Most leases are drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

A duty to insure the building

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Chelsea Building Society, and TSB all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I am the registered owner of a studio flat in Bredbury, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Bredbury with a long lease are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2095

With only 70 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.