My husband and I are planning to acquire a house in Farnborough and are in fact using a Farnborough conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Santander have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Farnborough conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Farnborough lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

Are the Farnborough conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Clydesdale?

Farnborough conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Clydesdale directly.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am new to the home buying as FTB of a garden flat in Farnborough. Do I receive the keys to the premises on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Farnborough?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be called to pick up the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs between 1 and 3pm.

A colleague pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Farnborough there may be a number of restrictions as to what one can do in terms of external alterations to the property. Is this right?

There are a number of properties in Farnborough which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Farnborough should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

About to purchase house in Farnborough. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.

They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Farnborough property lawyer is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel.

About to purchase a new build flat in Farnborough. Conveyancing is necessary evil 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 can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Farnborough

Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. 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. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Farnborough both have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Farnborough is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Farnborough conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease. They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I invested in buying a garden flat in Farnborough, conveyancing having been completed August 2012. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Farnborough with an extended lease are worth £222,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2095

You have 71 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.