Our solicitor has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are buying in Cleckheaton. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our has advised that he must ensure that the lender is willing to move forward with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the bank?

Regardless of the fact that you have a mortgage offer from the lender does not mean to say that the property will meet their specifications for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. You and the lender are the client. The appropriate lender specifications have to be complied with.

The Cleckheaton conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Cleckheaton have without warning closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the conveyancing panel and my preferred Cleckheaton lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help.

We previously selected solicitors based in Cleckheaton on the solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate amount for dealing with the mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by ?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your is entitled to charge a fee for this. The fee is not dictated by but by your Cleckheaton . Plenty of firms on the panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but plenty of practices incorporate it on their overall fee.

I currently have a mortgage with for my property in Cleckheaton. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform ?

You must advise in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of ’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a conveyancing panel solicitor.

I can not fathom if my bank obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have telephoned my Cleckheaton bank branch on a couple of occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My Cleckheaton conveyancing solicitor - who is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel- called to say that they will not lend in accordance with their published requirements. I have no idea who is right.

As long as the is on the mortgage company panel, she or he must comply with the CML Handbook provisions for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the bank will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Cleckheaton. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Cleckheaton

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please supply a car parking plan. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. 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.

I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for freehold conveyancing in Cleckheaton. I've stumble across a site which seems to have the perfect solution If it is possible to get all the legals done via web that would be ideal. Should I be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?

As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?