As someone unfamiliar with conveyancing in Farnborough what’s your top tip you can give me concerning the legal transfer of property in Farnborough

Not many law firms or advisers will tell you this but conveyancing in Farnborough and elsewhere in Hampshire is often a confrontational experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of opportunity for conflict between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. E.g., the seller, estate agent and even potentially a lender. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in Farnborough is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE person in the legal process whose role it is to protect your legal interests and to protect you.

On occasion a third party with a vested interest may attempt to sway you that it is in your interests to do things their way. As an example, the property agent may claim to be assisting by claiming that your conveyancer is dragging his heels. Or your financial adviser may advise you to do something that is against your conveyancers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

When it comes to lenders such as UBS, do Farnborough conveyancing practitioners have to pay an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are unaware of any bank fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

The mortgage over my property is with Virgin Money for my property in Farnborough. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. In the event that I decide 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 Virgin Money?

You must advise Virgin Money in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Virgin Money’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent 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 Virgin Money directly. You need not do this via a Virgin Money conveyancing panel firm.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Farnborough. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their solicitor. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A couple of days later, the lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Yorkshire BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

How does conveyancing in Farnborough differ for new build properties?

Most buyers of new build premises in Farnborough contact us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is built. This is because developers in Farnborough usually acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Farnborough or who has acted in the same development.

Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Farnborough in advance of retaining solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to grant a mortgage on such a house.

It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements for example to Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can check with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Farnborough. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

I am looking into buying my first house which is in Farnborough and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Farnborough. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Farnborough area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Farnborough. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found