Me and my husband are purchasing a ground floor flat in Fitzrovia. My lawyer is not listed on the lender conveyancing list. Am I still permitted to use my Fitzrovia conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?

You have a number of choices available to you here

• Complete the deal with your chosen Fitzrovia lawyer but your lender will no doubt instruct a conveyancing practitioner from their approved list. This will result in additional fees together with potential delay.
• Choose a new lawyer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
• Convince your conveyancer to do everything within their powers to get accepted on the lender’s conveyancing panel

We are buying a flat in Fitzrovia. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we will need to deposit funds into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our deposit?

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 buying a property in Fitzrovia. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Lloyds have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?

Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Lloyds your lawyer must follow the conveyancing requirements contained in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Lloyds. The CML Handbook contains minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Lloyds where a lease fails to meet these conditions. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not isolated to Fitzrovia.

I am selling my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in April 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, Coventry BS are being a right pain. The Fitzrovia solicitor who is on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Coventry BS are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Coventry BS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Coventry BS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Coventry BS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I have justbecome aware that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Fitzrovia for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?

The easiest way to see if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Fitzrovia conveyancing specialists.

I'm buying my first flat in Fitzrovia benefiting from help to buy. The developers refused to move on the price so I negotiated 6k of fixtures and fittings instead. The sale representative told me not inform my lawyer about this side-deal as it could impact my loan with Platform Home Loans Ltd. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Fitzrovia where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Fitzrovia conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Fitzrovia. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Fitzrovia conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Fitzrovia residence is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 73.26 years.