I am buying a house and require a conveyancing solicitor in Crayford who is on the Barclays conveyancing. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a conveyancing firm?

Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Barclays in certain locations such as Crayford. We dont recommend any particular firm.

Me and my partner are buying a house in Crayford. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we will need to deposit funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

I am being advised by my solicitor that defective lease insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Crayford conveyancing?

The appropriate level of defective lease indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Lloyds TSB Bank and Barnsley Building Society. Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.

Two weeks ago we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Nottingham. Crayford conveyancing solicitors have been instructed. How long does it take for Nottingham to issue the offer to the conveyancing practitioner?

There is no definitive answer here. Have Nottingham done the valuation? Have you advised Nottingham as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

Have purchased a a semi-detached house in Crayford , how long will it take for the Land Registry to record my ownership? My Crayford conveyancing solicitor has been very slow, so I want to be certain that my ownership is recorded.

As far as conveyancing in Crayford is concerned, registration is no faster or slower than the rest of the country. Rather than based on location, timeframes can differ subject to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any other persons or bodies. Currently roughly 80% of submission are completed within 12 days but some can be subject to protracted hold-ups. Registration occurs once the buyer is living at the premises so 'speed' is not always an essential issue but if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer must communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

I decided to have a survey completed on a property in Crayford prior to instructing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor advised that some banks may refuse to grant a mortgage on this type of premises.

It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Halifax. If you call us we can check with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Crayford. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Crayford especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Crayford.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Crayford from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Crayford can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers’ representatives.
If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled. If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Crayford conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity. A minority of Crayford leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

Following years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Crayford. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Crayford premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.