The owners have rather assertive vendors who has insisted on a lock out agreement with a payment 10k. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?

This form of agreement is unusual in Harbury, conveyancers are not keen on them as they detract from focusing on the primary focus, namely conveyancing and if you end up having your deposit forfeited then the lawyer is left exposed. In addition, there is no guarantee that just because the seller has executed an exclusivity contract they will complete the sale with you. They may breach the contract if they receive a big enough financial inducement to do so because an aggrieved claimant with the benefit of a exclusivity agreement will still be duty bound to show losses as a consequence of the breach and these may not amount to the extra amount that your vendor may obtain by breaking the contract, however morally shameful the behaviour is.

It is a dozen years since I bought my property in Harbury. Conveyancing lawyers have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to find the deeds. Will this cause complications?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be with your mortgage company or they may be archived with the lawyers who oversaw the purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Harbury involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.

The Harbury conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Harbury have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I needed a solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous Harbury lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT on account. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to assist.

I purchased my apartment on 7 June and the transaction details is yet to be on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Harbury said it should be concluded in a couple of weeks. Are titles in Harbury particularly slow to register?

There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in Harbury registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can differ depending on the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry communicate with any other parties. At present roughly three quarters of submission are completed within two weeks but some can be subject to protracted hold-ups. Registration is effected after the new owner is living at the premises thus post completion formalities is not always primary concern but where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your lawyers can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

Is it true that a Harbury conveyancing company has court proceedings brought against them by a client for not carrying out the right conveyancing investigations?

We are not aware of such a Harbury conveyancing claim but according to a recent report, clients acquiring a property in Cumbria successfully won a claim against their lawyer as a consequence of development plans to construct a wind farm failing to be picked up in conveyancing searches.

If you are purchasing in Harbury It is critical that your solicitor purchase all Harbury conveyancing searches needed to ensure you have accurate and up to date information before buying a home in Harbury.