I am obtaining a mortgage with Lloyds. I would like to employ the services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Caterham. Does the Lloyds Solicitor panel allow for Licensed Conveyancers?

The Lloyds approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, associated to the CML or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.

I am acquiring a house for cash in Caterham. I have been living for the previous 15 years in Caterham. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I know the road and vicinity intimately must I have all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a home loan, then the vast majority of the Caterham conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your conveyancer will ’encourage you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but he is duty bound to take that path of encouragement . Do take into account; if you are going to dispose of the house in the future, it will be of interest to your future purchaser what the searches disclose. Sometimes premises with functional issues can still reveal negative search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Caterham should be able to give you some constructive advice here.

This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a first time purchaser of a garden flat in Caterham. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my conveyancer? If so, I will appoint a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Caterham?

On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Caterham. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the purchase money to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen early afternoon.

Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Caterham. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?

All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Caterham. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their . I paid an advanced payment of £200. A few days later, the contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the 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 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 acquired a 1 bedroom flat in Caterham, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Caterham with a long lease are worth £165,000. The ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 50

With only 50 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £36,100 and £41,800 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Much to my surprise my lawyer in Caterham is asking me for ID documents stating that this is part of his obligations as a solicitor on the bank Solicitor panel. This is news to me - can I refuse?

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require Caterham conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing business. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that the bank also require certain documents to be viewed. If a you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the mortgage company's UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements