My fiancee and I are purchasing our first house. Our lawyer has e-mailedto ask if we want to order additional conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's needed for conveyancing in Eccleston and St Helens

The type of Eccleston and St Helens conveyancing searches should be dictated entirely on the premises, the location, the likelihood of any of these risks, your knowledge of the locality and risks, your overall appetite to risk. What matters is that you properly understand what information each search could supply. Then you can make a decision if you personally think you need that search. If in doubt, ask the lawyer to recommend.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Eccleston and St Helens last April yet the purchaser is telephoning every few hours to say her conveyancer needs to hear from mylawyer. What should my lawyer have done following completion?

Following your sale your lawyer should deliver the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. If applicable, your conveyancer must also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been repaid to the buyers lawyers. There is unlikely to be post completion steps peculiar conveyancing in Eccleston and St Helens.

Various web forums that I have come across warn that are the primary reason for delay in Eccleston and St Helens conveyancing transactions. Is this right?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure amongst the most frequent causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Eccleston and St Helens.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £305k and found one near me in Eccleston and St Helens I like with open areas and station nearby, however it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Eccleston and St Helens in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?

Should you require a home loan that many years will be an issue. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.

I need to change lawyers as my Eccleston and St Helens lawyer is not on the bank's panel of conveyancing solicitors. Is it practical to instruct different lawyers?

In the event that you have not formally instructed a solicitor to commence the conveyancing and at this stage simply received an estimate as to costs, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in Eccleston and St Helens that you're thinking of instructing.