I plan on buying property in Farnham. My lawyer has never been on on the bank solicitor panel. Am I still permitted to retain my Farnham conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank approved list?

You have a couple of options available to you here

• Complete the deal with your existing Farnham solicitor but your mortgage company will no doubt appoint a conveyancer from their conveyancing panel. This will result in additional charges together with probable delay.
• Get a new solicitor to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
• Appeal to your conveyancer to apply to join the lender panel

I used Arc property Solicitors a few years ago for my conveyancing in Farnham. Now, I need my files however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Farnham of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Farnham is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Farnham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Farnham you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Farnham may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

In my capacity as executor for the will of my uncle I am disposing of a residence in Newport but I am based in Farnham. My lawyer (based 250 miles awayneeds me to execute a statutory declaration ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in Farnham to witness this legal document for me?

strictly speaking you are unlikely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in Farnham

I’m about to sell my basement apartment in Farnham. Conveyancing has not commenced, however I have recently had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge as you normally would as all rents and service payments should be allotted on completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Farnham, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2001. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding flats in Farnham with a long lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2087

You have 61 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £19,000 and £22,000 as well as costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.