My husband and I are looking to purchase a house in Freshford and have instructed a Freshford conveyancing firm. 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. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Freshford solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Freshford solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Last March we completed a house move in Freshford. We have since encountered a number of issues with the property which we believe were missed in the conveyancing searches. What action can we take? What searches should? have been carried out as part of conveyancing in Freshford?

It is not clear from the question as what problems have arisen and if they are specific to conveyancing in Freshford. Conveyancing searches and due diligence initiated as part of the legal transfer of property are supposed to help avoid problems. As part of the legal transfer of property, a property owner answers a form known as a SPIF. If the information turns out to be incorrect, then you may have a claim against the vendor for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in Freshford.

Finally the sale completed on my house in Freshford last January yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours complaining that her lawyer is waiting to hear from mine. What should have happened following completion?

After completion of your house sale your lawyer should send the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. If applicable, your solicitor should also evidence that the mortgage has been discharged to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion steps specific conveyancing in Freshford.

I am the only beneficiary of my late father’s will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Freshford. The Freshford property was put into my name in April. I plan to dispose of the house. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship may be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the house in April. Will no one buy the property for half a year?

The CML handbook requires solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be impacted by that. How practical a view lenders take of it, depend on the bank as this obligation is chiefly there to capture subsales or the flipping of properties.

When it comes to lenders such as Coventry BS, do Freshford property lawyers face a yearly amount to be on the conveyancing panel?

We are not aware of any mortgage company fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.

I had an offer accepted on a property in Freshford on 1/4/2019, valuation was booked five days later, all came back fine. Conveyancer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Nottingham and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Nottingham to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Freshford which have approximately 50 years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Freshford. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorates and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area.

I am the registered owner of a split level flat in Freshford, conveyancing formalities finalised 9 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar properties in Freshford with a long lease are worth £255,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2092

With only 73 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.