My husband and I are purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in Carshalton Beeches with a mortgage. We like our Carshalton Beeches conveyancer, but the lender says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the bank panel firms or keep our Carshalton Beeches conveyancing practitioner and pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This seems very unfair; can we not require that the bank use our Carshalton Beeches property lawyer ?

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Carshalton Beeches conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Carshalton Beeches last August but my buyer keeps telephoning every few hours to say his lawyer is waiting to hear from mysolicitor. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?

Following your disposal your lawyer is duty bound to forward the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's lawyers. Where relevant, your solicitor must also evidence that the home loan has been redeemed to the buyers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion tasks specific conveyancing in Carshalton Beeches.

Is there a search tool that I can use to discover of the solicitor conducting my conveyancing in Carshalton Beeches is on the bank’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Barnsley Building Society thus spending £175.00 in another set of conveyancing charges.

Feel free to take advantage of the search tool on this site. Pick the lender and type ‘Carshalton Beeches’ or your preferred area and you will see numerous conveyancers based in Carshalton Beeches or nearest you.

I was recommended by a number of estate agents in Carshalton Beeches to select a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to market your services over and above another?

We don’t make any referral fee for directing people to this site. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Carshalton Beeches where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Carshalton Beeches conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can one apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Carshalton Beeches conveyancing firm to assist?

if there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to make a decision on the price payable.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Carshalton Beeches flat is 223 Brighton Road in September 2013. The premium payable for the acquisition freehold of the properties should be £10,934 (Ten thousand,nine hundred and thirty four pounds) This case related to 3 flats. The unexpired term was 75 years.