My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a home in Cirencester and have instructed a Cirencester conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Cirencester conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Cirencester solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

The deeds to our house can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Cirencester 4 years ago are no longer around. What are my next steps?

You no longer need to have the physical official documentation to prove you own the land or property, as the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Cirencester. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here are examples of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cirencester

There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please supply a car parking plan.

Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Cirencester ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor advised that some lenders may refuse to give a mortgage on a flying freehold property.

It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Cirencester. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Cirencester to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Cirencester. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Cirencester Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Most Cirencester leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. Where you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, normally periodically throughout the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant figure, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds. Make sure you discover if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Cirencester. If you love the apartmentin Cirencester but your dog is not allowed to live with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. You should be aware if it is no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the property. Check with your mortgage company that they are content with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have owned the property for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease.