My wife and I are hoping to purchase a home in Hartford and have appointed a Hartford conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Hartford conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with the benefit 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 bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Hartford solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

A relative advised me that where I am buying in Hartford I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Hartford conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and detailing significant information about Hartford around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Hartford Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Hartford.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Hartford. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Hartford

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Please supply a car parking plan.

I opted to have a survey done on a house in Hartford prior to appointing solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.

It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Hartford. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.

In surfing the internet for the words on line conveyancing in Hartford it shows results of numerous property lawyerslocally. How do I determine which is the suitable solicitor for me?

The ideal way of finding a suitable conveyancer is via trusted recommendation, so ask friends and family who have acquired a property in Hartford or the local estate agent or mortgage broker. Fees for conveyancing in Hartford vary, so it's advisable to request a minimum of three fee calculations from different property lawyers. Dont forget to clarify what costs in the quote includes.