Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Brough. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?

Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR with full details of your complaint.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Brough. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an advanced payment of £175. A couple of days later, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I had an offer accepted on a property in Brough on 4/8/2023, valuation was booked 2 days later, all came back fine. Conveyancer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Barclays and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Are Barclays entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Barclays to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

Should our solicitor be making enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Brough.

Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors dealing with homes in Brough. There are those who purchase a property in Brough, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical destruction, if a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the buyer.

Solicitors are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous checks that may be undertaken by the purchaser or by their conveyancers which will figure out the risks in Brough. The conventional set of information sent to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard question of the seller to find out whether the property has suffered from flooding. In the event that the property has been flooded in past which is not revealed by the owner, then a buyer could issue a claim for damages resulting from an incorrect reply. A purchaser’s solicitors may also conduct an environmental search. This will reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries should be conducted.

I'm purchasing a new build house in Brough benefiting from help to buy. The developers would not budge the price so I negotiated 6k of extras instead. The estate agent advised me not inform my solicitor about the deal as it will adversely affect my loan with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer 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.

I am using a search engine for the phrase conveyancing in Brough it reveals numerous property lawyerslocally. With so much choice what is the best way to find the suitable property lawyer for my move?

The best method of finding a suitable conveyancer is via personal referral, so seek the guidance of colleagues and those you trust who have bought a property in Brough or a local estate agent or financial adviser. Charges for conveyancing in Brough vary, so it's a good idea to request a minimum of three fee estimates from varying types of law firms. Make sure that you know that the fees are fixed.

Completion is due on our sale of a £275,000 apartment in Brough next Thursday. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Brough?

Brough conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in administration charges raised by managing agents :

Addressing pre-exchange enquiries Where consent is required before sale in Brough Supplying insurance information Deeds of covenant upon sale Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Brough leasehold property is £350. For Brough conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

I inherited a garden flat in Brough, conveyancing was carried out in 2005. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Brough with an extended lease are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2092

With just 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.