My husband and I are planning to buy a flat in Chobham and are in fact using a Chobham conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Chobham conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Chobham lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Chobham even if I’m not buying or disposing of a house, for instance where I wish to acquire a shop in Chobham with a mortgage from Santander?

The service is primarily used to get a quote from domestic conveyancing solicitors in Chobham but we have set out at the bottom of this page a selection of Chobham commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the solicitors directly to check if they are also authorised to represent Santander

Various internet forums that I have visited warn that are the primary cause of stalling in Chobham conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the top 10 causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Chobham.

I own a semi-detached Victorian property in Chobham. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Bank of Ireland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. Is it worth asking Bank of Ireland to clarify?

You need to review 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 Chobham 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 lenders. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing practitioner who carried out the work.

What are the frequently found defects that you encounter in leases for Chobham properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Chobham. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Nationwide Building Society, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

I bought a studio flat in Chobham, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Chobham with an extended lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2085

You have 60 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £20,000 and £23,000 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.